Isn't it re-assuring to know that although , by officialfigures , crimes of violence have gone up in Sheffield by 50% , since last year , that this isn't really the case .By another set of figures , this time , not government inspired , but BELIEVED by the government to be more accurate , the crimes of violence figures have gone down a bit !
I bet every vulnerable person , cowering in their flats and houses will be glad to hear that they can now nip out to visit a friend after dark and their chances of being mugged will have been reduced by 1/2 of a %--------well , unless you believe the other figures , of course ! No doubt pensioners ......et ..al.... sit in their flats , with their calculators , working out their chances -------they're not likely to believe these scare stories , are they ?Go on , dear , take a chance , you only get mugged once !
A SYP.spokesperson announced that some senior offices who had previously , we assume , been sitting in their offices , analysing statistics , re----ethnic backgrounds , were going to be replaced by , "bobbies on the beat " ! How original ! I wonder where that idea sprung from ?
The sooner the South Yorkshire Police operate how they want to operate , without central guidelines and central control , the better. They know the local conditions better than anyone and should be given a free hand ---------as they once had----------maybe then , we would see cimes of violence REALLY fall.

the perception of violence has rocketed!

Reading that was painful!

Originally posted by Fareast
The sooner the South Yorkshire Police operate how they want to operate , without central guidelines and central control , the better. They know the local conditions better than anyone and should be given a free hand ---------as they once had----------maybe then , we would see cimes of violence REALLY fall.

Damn right...

Interowl

You're quite right , the perception of violence HAS rocketed. !
Do you think it might be possible that actual crimes of violence have risen too ?
If they haven't , there must have been a gigantic conspiracy going on in the U.K. for the last 30 years , involving millions of people.
Not only must a lot of people of every political persuasion been falsifying these figures of crimes of violence but people must have written thousands , maybe millions of letters to the papers saying how crimes of violence have increased in their neighbourhoods , knowing all the time it was a huge lie ! How underhand can the public get ?
Of course some people say , with no evidence whatsoever , that in the old days people , "didn't bother to report crimes of violence "
I would have thought exactly the opposite was the case. People are MORE likely to report crimes of violence when they think they will be attended to , and in the , "old days " they WERE attended to !
I wonder how many crimes of violence on Friday and Saturday nights go unreported in our modern age , in our , "violence -free " city centres ?

The rates have apparently risen because they now include "less serious" offences such as Friday/saturday night punch-ups, which they previously didn't.

I agree that there is a perception of more violent crime, but I reckon that's largely down to the kind of media hype that brands all hoody-wearers as thugs.

Originally posted by Fareast
Interowl

You're quite right , the perception of violence HAS rocketed. !
Do you think it might be possible that actual crimes of violence have risen too ?


I do think violence on the streets - gun crime, muggings, attacks on women and children etc has rocketed but I have been previously slated for suggesting this...

As things stand currently and the way things are going I'm living in dread of getting old....

:suspect:

Rich f.

It really puzzles me that if the rise in violent crime is only , "a perception " or made up by the press , why have successive governments NEVER said , during the last 30 years that society is getting less violent under their tenure . Surely , they would jump at the chance to say , " Under us , crimes of violence have fallen !"
The most that they say is , " Under us , crimes of violence have increased less than under X government ."
Why doesn't someone in authority have the honesty to say , " We are a less violent Society than 30 years ago ." Are they scared people might fall down laughing ?
Yes , I suppose that both the Labour and the Tories might be involved in some gigantic conspiracy , together with about 80% of thepublic , to make things seem worse than they are .
It's a real puzzle though why they should do so ?

People who work on Community Development issues will tell you that where people in communities are supported to have the confidence to report previously unreported crime, the figures rocket up not because there's been a huge hike in crime but because people feel more confident in reporting it, whereas they just thought " B*******s, lets' not bother, no-one give as toss, it'll make no difference".

The Police can't really win on this one.

It is important, when looking at these reports, to understand that there is a difference between "reported" crime and "recorded" crime.
I believe that this latest release of figures is dealing with "recorded" crime.
By the the very nature of the data collection system, recorded crime is lower than reported crime and every call to the police may not even be logged as reported.

Andy K
Yes , I agree with you .
In the '50's and '60's ,for example , I'm sure a bigger percentage of violent crime was reported , simply because people felt that it WAS worth reporting.
The detection rates were higher too and it was easier then to actually see and talk to the police. People lived in more settled , long-standing communities and felt supported when they complained or reported crime. There were police boxes dotted about all over the place and people knew that a police officer would report there at regular intervals.There was every encouragement to report serious crimes , especially of violence.
Today , there's quite likely to be more , "hidden" crime for reasons we've already gone into. When those programmes were on the T.V. about how the police were tackling , "binge drinking " crime in the city centres , all over Britain , you would see men and women , lashing out , kicking officers , swearing......etc.....as they were being arrested. In the background there would often be the odd punch -up and what have you.At the end of the programme , it would tell you what had happened to the those arrested. Astonishingly ,the lashers and kickers were often just fined a petty sum and charged with, "disorderly behaviour " . So , our society is probably a lot more violent than we think it is , whatever criteria one uses.

Originally posted by Fareast
Andy K
Yes , I agree with you .
In the '50's and '60's ,for example , I'm sure a bigger percentage of violent crime was reported , simply because people felt that it WAS worth reporting.
The detection rates were higher too and it was easier then to actually see and talk to the police. People lived in more settled , long-standing communities and felt supported when they complained or reported crime. There were police boxes dotted about all over the place and people knew that a police officer would report there at regular intervals.There was every encouragement to report serious crimes , especially of violence.


You overlook crimes of domestic violence Fareast. In the 50s and 60s, and even up until the 90s, crimes of domestic violence were often considered by society as domestic disputes, usually warranting no interference by the police - except maybe a ticking off for the abusing spouse.

Domestic violence is a crime, and nowadays, thanks to people like Erin Pizzey (the founder of the 'battered wives' refuge movement) the police will now arrest and charge a perpetrator.

Redrobbo
It's very difficlt to judge how much domestic crime there was , "then" and is , "now" , simply because it was unreported and perhaps a lot still is. It's difficult to quantify , in the way that , "proving a negative " always is.
I do take your point that a lot of domestic crime probably did go unreported in the , "old ' days. One of the reasons , I suspect is that it's the sort of crime that takes place in private and is probably difficult to prove in a court of law , except in the most blatant cases.
However , there is still one unknown. Even if a larger percentage of people report domestic crime these days , it could still be the case that a larger volume of domestic crime was happening today than in days gone by. It all depends on how much is taking place in absolute numbers.
If domestic crime is following the national trend , it's quite likely there's more of it overall , reported and unreported.