It was one month ago today when we first reported on the state crime report showing crime jumped eight-percent in Greenville in 2007, the second highest increase in the state. That prompted a flood of reaction.

Some claim an effort to lower those numbers revolves around a change in crime reporting. Sources in the Greenville Police Department allege those responsible for inputting the data on the original reports are being told to list some crimes, like rape, armed robberies, breaking and entering, and larcenies, as suspicious activity. They claim this change is designed to make the crime rate look lower. We began investigating and took our questions to Greenville Police Chief William Anderson and his department.

WITN-TV requested and obtained the suspicious activity reports for the Greenville Police Department dating back to 2005. That's the year before William Anderson became police chief. In 2005 , there were five suspicious activity reports. In 2006, Anderson's first year as chief, there were four. Last year, that number jumped to 39. So far this year, for the first six months of 2008, there are 91 suspicious activity reports. WITN asked for the logs of what those calls originally came in as. They were everything from rape, armed robbery, sexual assault and first degree burglary. So how did they end up reported as suspicious activity?

Greenville Police Chief William Anderson says there's a simple explanation. Anderson says, "A lot of times we will be dispatched the call will come out one way, we get there and once we do our initial investigation and look at the circumstances that's being reported, we find out it's something else." Anderson says the department instituted a new policy of better classifying crimes. The department does not automatically report them as the initial call, which he says had been the procedure. "So what we're doing now is having our officers do what they should really do initially and that's conduct a complete and thorough investigation to make sure the information they're obtaining is accurate and correct and is reported that way."

Anderson says if the department does not uncover evidence a crime actually took place, then it's reported as suspicious activity. The chief says crimes that actually have occurred are not being changed in official reports.

City manager Wayne Bowers says he has no reason to question what Anderson is saying. As far as the allegations from others in the police department about the way crime is reported? Bowers says, "If people in the police department are saying that crimes should be classified one way and are being classified the other way, yes that's a concern. But no one has approached me with that information. If they have concerns they want to discuss if they have already gone through the chain of command, already discussed this with the chief, then they can certainly discuss it with me."

But until someone in the department comes to Bowers with claims of changing statistics to lower the crime rate, he says they are just third party allegations and the city stands by the police chief and the new suspicious activity policy.

WITN has requested the full initial call reports in cases ultimately reported as suspicious activity. We'll keep you posted on what we find, as we continue to examine Greenville crime statistics.

Click here to read Dave Jordan's blog Our Obligation As Journalists