Hardheaded, softhearted = victim.

Here are two Brit headlines:

England has worst crime rate in world
By David Bamber, Home Affairs Correspondent
(Filed: 01/12/2002)

England and Wales have the highest crime rate among the world's leading economies, according to a new report by the United Nations.

The survey, which is likely to prove embarrassing to David Blunkett, the Home Secretary. shows that people are more likely to be mugged, burgled, robbed or assaulted here than in America, Germany, Russia, South Africa or any other of the world's 20 largest nations. Only the Dominican Republic, New Zealand and Finland have higher crime rates than England and Wales.

How can this be? Because, after all - they are effectively disarmed, pretty much have to go overseas to learn to shoot unless they are soldiers or police, and, in good Orwellian fashion...

Big Brother Britain, 2004
Four million CCTV cameras watch public. UK has the highest level of surveillance
By Maxine Frith, Social Affairs Correspondent, 12 January 2004

More than four million surveillance cameras monitor our every move, making Britain the most-watched nation in the world, research has revealed.

The number of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras has quadrupled in the past three years, and there is now one for every 14 people in the UK. The increase is happening at twice the predicted rate, and it is believed that Britain accounts for one-fifth of all CCTV cameras worldwide. Estimates suggest that residents of a city such as London can each expect to be captured on CCTV cameras up to 300 times a day, and much of the filming breaches existing data guidelines.

Civil liberties groups complain that the rules governing the use of the cameras in Britain are the most lax in the world. They say that, in contrast to other countries, members of the public are often unaware they are being filmed, and are usually ignorant of the relevant regulations. They also argue that there is little evidence to support the contention that CCTV cameras lead to a reduction in crime rates.

Given the top article I would say the people speaking at the end of the second quote have a case, eh? Apparently we need to take a different approach than just passing laws that only the law-abiding with obey, and spend our time and money watching the law abiding go about their business.

Work it from the other end, guys. Don't just regulate what's easy to regulate and then wring your hands and regulate the easy to regulate stuff some more.

Here's a thought - go after the criminals. Of course, you might want to take a look at how much activity you've made criminal, too. Nah, never mind. That would make the prosecutors and other people involved in the legal profession unhappy. Can't have that. They have too much money available to help candidates along.

UPDATE: I just noticed that though both stories were filed on January 12th, they were filed two years apart, crimes stats in 2002, surveillance in 2004. Anybody seen this years stats on Crime in Britain?

I'll have to hunt 'em up after work, unless someone wants to do that for me?

UPDATE II: I found a bit. It seems that they still have an astoundingly high victimization rate or 26.9 percent (1 in four, guys!) and interpersonal violence has been going up and down quarterly (that kind of stuff is seasonal). In the US, the total victimization rate was 8 percent. That's still a big number, but only a third of the UK's.

This extract on gun crime is not good, showing a 3 percent increase, though they are showing a decreasing trend toward the end of the year.

The July 2003 update is available here. I've put the executive summary in the extended post.

This is the second edition of ’Crime in England and Wales' bringing together statistics from the British Crime Survey (BCS) and the numbers of crimes recorded by the police. It provides a comprehensive account of the latest patterns and trends in the main high volume crimes. The main points in this 2002/03 edition are: • Crimes against adults in England and Wales decreased by two per cent in 2002/03, according to the British Crime Survey. • There has been a 25 per cent fall in crime measured by the BCS in the five years between 1997 and 2002/03. • Crimes recorded by the police decreased by three per cent in 2002/03, after taking into account the impact of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) on recording practices. • Police recording of those crimes reported to them is now at an historic high of 70 per cent, according to the BCS. • The risk of becoming a victim of crime remains at an historic low (around 27%) according to the BCS, one-third lower than the risk in 1995 (40%). • There has been a 39 per cent fall in burglary as measured by the BCS since 1997. The trend in domestic burglary appears to have leveled out this year, with a small non-statistically significant increase in the BCS (up 1%) and a small fall in recorded crimes (down 2%), once the effects of the NCRS have been accounted for. • Vehicle-related thefts fell by five per cent this year according to the BCS, and by nine per cent according to recorded crime (adjusted for the NCRS). • Violent crimes experienced by adults living in private households in 2002/03 remained stable, following falls in each survey since 1995. BCS violence has fallen by 24 per cent since 1997. The numbers of recorded violent crimes have been heavily affected by the introduction of the NCRS, but once adjusted for this there was a two per cent increase. • Within this total there have been an increases in the BCS estimate for woundings, although this increase is not statistically significant. Last January the Home Office reported an increase of 27 per cent in recorded firearm offences in 2001/02, and the statistics for 2002/03 will be published later this year. • Recorded robberies fell by 14 per cent in 2002/03 (adjusted for the NCRS), following the introduction of the Street Crime Initiative in ten forces at the beginning of the year. • The number of detections recorded by the police in 2002/2003 was eight per cent higher than in 2001/2002. • In spite of the significant falls in the main volume crimes in recent years, almost three-quarters of the public still believe that the national crime rate has been rising.

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Comments on Hardheaded, softhearted = victim.

Russell briefed on January 12, 2004 01:11 PM

A good way to create a police state is to create the need for a police state!

Ban the guns and crime rises, so more police are needed, right?

And those police will need bigger and badder guns then the bad guys, right?

And they'll need better and more intrusive surveillance technologies in place to monitor society better, right?

And new powers and laws to let them do their job in their ever increasing field of responsibility, right?

And who is to complain when the video cameras are in their homes. They are there to make sure nothing bad is happening, and if it does, well then the police know where to go. Makes sense, right?

You can see where this is going, right?

Bloodthirsty Warmonger briefed on January 13, 2004 10:45 PM

Amen to that, Russell! The typical reaction for gun-control freaks is that when their program isn't working, they will inevitably recommend more of the same!!!!!