Crime rate improves. - 25th Jan 2018 9:16pm
Yes I know what the narrative is, but I look at the facts.
There are, basically, three ways of measuring crime.
The Crime Survey of England and Wales
A&E figures for violent crime victims.
Police figures.
The first one, the CSEW checks lots of crimes which are never reported to the police. It is an expertly conducted, highly accurate picture of crimes actually experienced by people. It was set up after serious flaws in police recording of crime came to light. It finds crime continuing to fall.
A&E figures for violence requiring hospital treatment mirrors the findings of the CSEW. Clearly hospitals have no figures for other crimes, but the fact that it confirms the CSEWs findings for those areas it HAS knowledge of adds credence to the CSEWs figures.
The police figures are known to be of very poor quality. So bad that they are specifically excluded as a basis for policymaking. It is very noticeable that when cost-cutting is likely, the police response is to diligently record every crime. Under less threatening conditions they tend to discourage reporting of crime in order to reduce their 'unsolved crimes' list.
Yet we seem to have saturation coverage of the flaky police figures, with embarrassing figures from more accurate sources relegated to page 94 or not even mentioned.
If you want an example of fake news, then look no further than the publicity afforded to these blatantly fiddle figures.
Does it matter? Yes, it does. Policing is very expensive, and if it is unnecessary it means something else will suffer. the NHS, Schools Hospitals, Roads to the detriment of us all.
There are, basically, three ways of measuring crime.
The Crime Survey of England and Wales
A&E figures for violent crime victims.
Police figures.
The first one, the CSEW checks lots of crimes which are never reported to the police. It is an expertly conducted, highly accurate picture of crimes actually experienced by people. It was set up after serious flaws in police recording of crime came to light. It finds crime continuing to fall.
A&E figures for violence requiring hospital treatment mirrors the findings of the CSEW. Clearly hospitals have no figures for other crimes, but the fact that it confirms the CSEWs findings for those areas it HAS knowledge of adds credence to the CSEWs figures.
The police figures are known to be of very poor quality. So bad that they are specifically excluded as a basis for policymaking. It is very noticeable that when cost-cutting is likely, the police response is to diligently record every crime. Under less threatening conditions they tend to discourage reporting of crime in order to reduce their 'unsolved crimes' list.
Yet we seem to have saturation coverage of the flaky police figures, with embarrassing figures from more accurate sources relegated to page 94 or not even mentioned.
If you want an example of fake news, then look no further than the publicity afforded to these blatantly fiddle figures.
Does it matter? Yes, it does. Policing is very expensive, and if it is unnecessary it means something else will suffer. the NHS, Schools Hospitals, Roads to the detriment of us all.