Facing questions over whether crime statistics have been manipulated to cast the New York Police Department in a more positive light, the police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, announced the creation of a panel consisting of former federal prosecutors to review the department’s internal crime-reporting system.

Mr. Kelly said on Wednesday that the panel, the Crime Reporting Review Committee, would be given broad access to review the ways the Police Department records, tracks and audits its own crime numbers.

“The integrity of our crime-reporting system is of the utmost importance to the department,” Mr. Kelly said in a statement. “It is essential not only for maintaining the confidence of the people we serve, but reliable crime statistics are necessary for the effective planning and evaluation of crime-reduction strategies.”

Until Wednesday, Mr. Kelly has repeatedly downplayed criticism about the statistics. But his announcement reflects concern that the integrity of its crime statistics could be in question.

Critics have long charged that the department’s crime data has been undermined by a network of incentives that in many cases prompt those responsible for assessing, reporting and recording crimes — from patrol officers to precinct commanders — to downgrade offenses or discourage people from filing complaint reports.

The three appointees to the panel have all worked in the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan: David Kelley, a partner with the law firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel, who was a co-chairman of the United States Justice Department’s investigation of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks; Sharon L. McCarthy, a partner in the law firm of Kostelanetz & Fink who, as a special counsel to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo when he was state attorney general, looked into the question of possible malfeasance in the State Police; and Robert G. Morvillo, a partner at the law firm Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello & Bohrer.

Mr. Kelly said the panel would have three to six months to complete its task. Among its missions, he said, are: to look at summary documents on the nature and trends in crime classification; visit police precinct station houses to see the crime-reporting system firsthand; attend meetings on CompStat, the crime-mapping system, to gain insight into the managerial accountability commanders face; review the discipline meted out when discrepancies are discovered; and assess how the Police Department makes its data public.

In recent months, the Police Department has been confronted with a crime-records scandal in the 81st Precinct in Brooklyn.

Internal Affairs bureau officers are investigating allegations that crime complaints in the 81st Precinct had been intentionally downgraded to make felonies appear as misdemeanors in an attempt to tamp down the number of major crimes. In October, the former commander of the precinct and four others were hit with internal disciplinary charges. The former commander, Inspector Steven Mauriello, was charged with failing to record a grand larceny complaint; the four others are accused of failing to file a robbery complaint.

Those charges underscore concerns of current and former officers who say that CompStat, the department mapping and analysis system that has been credited with bringing down major crimes, has created intense pressure to produce annual crime reductions and has led some supervisors to misclassify major crime.

Some critics say the department has fomented a numbers-driven culture that has created a focus on officer activity, including issuing summonses and making low-level arrests. Police officials have long denied the existence of a quota system, but said that officers are expected to meet performance goals.

Last February, in an academic survey, more than 100 retired captains and higher-ranking officers reported that they were aware of instances of “ethically inappropriate” changes to crime complaints in the seven major categories of felonies measured by CompStat, though the department has repeatedly disputed the methodology of that survey.

For years, police officials in New York have disclosed statistics in major crimes: murder, rape, robbery, burglary, serious assault and theft.

(Read More: NY Times)