[quantummagic]

How sure are you about those statistics? When police stop responding to calls, when nobody expects stolen property to ever be recovered, when people are afraid they'll be deported if they call the police... crime stops being reported.

Statistics are not worthless, but they can be worse than worthless if you are careless, or in the hands of the unscrupulous.

[pants2]

Also two things can be true at the same time:

1. The neighborhood is so bad you'll be murdered for certain if you walk alone at night.

2. Murder rates are at record lows.

This just means hardly anyone's walking alone at night - but "crime rates are down".

[quantummagic]

Good point. It's just frustrating how many people spout the "statistics", and are happy to avoid such nuance in order to take solace in a comfortable narrative.

[UncleMeat]

Car thefts are reported to insurance companies. Murders tend to be reported.

We also have the National Crime Survey, which simply asks people if they have been the victim of various crimes in the last year. No interaction with police whatsoever. This also tracks a huge drop in crime despite people insisting that "crime is up", especially when asked about the country broadly rather than their local region.

[quantummagic]

What's your argument? That we're always privy to the truth, and that statistics are never in error, and are never crafted by people in service of an agenda? Okay, I guess, that's great for you. No reason to question anything, or think critically for yourself.