I am delighted at the drop but am surprised. My personal experience does not suggest a falling crime rate -- but the number seem pretty solid. Note, youth violent crime is up marginally but other than that a global fall:
OTTAWA Canada's crime rate is falling, fuelled by a dwindling number of auto thefts, break-ins and mischief offences and fewer violent crimes.
A Statistics Canada study released Tuesday shows the rate and severity of police-reported crime fell by about 3% in 2009 to a total of 2.2 million crimes. That's about 17% lower than a decade ago.
Police-reported violent crime in Canada is also on the wane, though at a slower pace of decline than overall crime
6 comments:
The crime rate in this country has generally been dropping for quite some time. It is strange that so many people seem to believe the opposite is the case.
I believe that crime is under reported. The last time my car was broken into I did not notify the police. The crime rate probably is dropping but not by that much.
People are getting better at protecting their property and cars.
An aging population always leads to less crime. That is a factor here.
Under reporting is certainly the case -- but unless the rate of under reporting changes then then drop in reported rate reflects a changing reality. Thanks for the comments!
I would bet the rate of under-reporting IS increasing. The stat is "police reported crime" and I know fewer people bother reporting crime that doesn't exceed the insurance deductible. The rate I am more interested in is the violent crime rate because it would almost always result in a police report. Strangely enough it isn't dropping nearly so fast.
As a follow up, when police no longer investigate "minor" crimes like theft, vandalism, breaking into cars and such then the reported rate of those crimes will obviously go down. When was the last time a police officer anywhere in Canada actually investigated a theft? Seriously, the local police have become stats gatherers and speed enforcers. They may intervene in violent incidents but they generally don't investigate crime anymore. Why is that?
And here is the perfect example of why people don't bother reporting crime anymore:
Calgary Couple Wait 5 Hours in their Car for Police response to break-in
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