Perry bizarrely still claiming 60% drop in border crime

The Austin Statesman on it's "Truth-O-Meter" page, which fact checks statements by politicians in Texas political races, gave Gov. Rick Perry a "Pants on Fire" rating for saying that crime dropped 60% along the border because of his much-ballyhooed pork-barrel grants (with tough sounding names like "Operation Linebacker" and "Operation Wrangler") to Sheriffs. After parsing through the laughably thin sourcing for the statistic then comparing it to real world crime data, the paper summed up:

Perry's claim that his border security efforts have led to a 60 percent drop in crime doesn't hold water. The calculation he touts doesn't consider crimes committed in cities and towns where most border residents live. It also compared two calendar quarters rather than weighing years' worth of data.

Crime may have temporarily subsided in some rural areas of the border region.

However, it's not clear how much of any decline can be traced to the state's investment in security.

We rate Perry's sweeping statement based on an unreasonable manipulation of crime statistics -- the second instance of his administration touting questionable border crime numbers -- as Pants on Fire.

The big flaw in the number: It only includes unincorporated areas, and only for a four-month period! Louie Gilot at the El Paso Times so thoroughly debunked these bizarre calculations at the time that I'm almost surprised his campaign trotted them out so brazenly, much less had the Governor say the words himself as recently as March 10.

Maybe the next step should be a survey of border mayors to determine if they believe Perry's crime-drop claims? IMO that money was thrown down a pork-laden sinkhole.

Pants on fire, indeed.

See related Grits posts:

• Governor claimed phony drop in border crime, experts say
• Did Operation Linebacker achieve its goals? If not, why not?
• Gov. Perry wants his own version of Clinton's COPS program ... to fight Los Zetas?
• Border pork wrong priority for federal stimulus funds
• Gravy train continues for Operation Linebacker
• More detail on Operation Wrangler
• DPS and Governor's border operations don't coordinate, at all
• Sheriffs privatizing border web cams
• Elected Sheriff receiving Governor's border security funds worked for Gulf cartel