Most most large cities do that. You're right, it does help the numbers. But if most of the numbers go up then you can shift things around as much as you want and it will still look bad. I know that violent crime in my area jumped up after they closed 2 out of 3 police stations. The mayor said it would help the city put 4 more cops on the streets. Well gues what, they stopped patroling the far ends of the city and someone was killed 10 feet away from one of the closed stations. They can try to hind numbers all they want like everone else but more people were killed that year and the folllowing years after that than ever before. I say give the criminals something to worry about. If they think regular citizens are armed then they won't be so quick to act like punks. They'll do what the rest of us do, WALK AWAY!