Headline Oct 22, 2014/

''' OH-HO CRIMINALS ! : 

HO-OH CRIMINALIT​Y !! '''

IN THE WORLD TO BE - when exports will be transmitted, not transported, this is the present state of the world:

Perhaps a lingering bitterness from the past many decades colours my view. Nevertheless, Onwards then to the Rocky Territory.

THE OBVIOUS ANSWER is that perceptions of crime lagged reality for years but have finally caught up with it.

Criminality began to fall in the mid-1990s,  led by common  ''volume crimes'' such as burglary, which the previous government went all out to fight.

It is unlikely that Britons have noticed the statistical trend.

Official figures are trusted by less than  50%   -the Crime Survey for England and Wales- found one reason:

No doubt, why responsibility for producing them shifted some time back, from the Home Office to the Non political office for  National Statistics.

It is the personal experience that matters most in assessing crime at the local level, where fear of it has fallen most.

John Graham, of the Police Foundation, a  think-tank suggests one reason for that. Policing changed in the mid-2000S. 

Before then, driven by the centrally imposed targets that helped reduce volume crimes, police were loosing touch with community concerns over lower-level problems, such as, anti-social behaviour.

Lack of contact with and confidence in policing was feeding fear of crime, whatever the hard evidence.

To placate a government desperate to close the reassurance gap, a National Reassurance Policing Programme was launched. A subset of the  ''community policing''  that had come into political vogue-

It was specifically intended both to reduce crime and disorder and to reassure people that their concerns were heard.

Bobbies were to give priority to the kind of offending that shaped local views about a neighbourhood. That involved interviewing residents, visibly monitoring trouble spots and briefing about actions taken. Some of it successful.

The other answer in why fear of crime has fallen may simply be that people have bigger things to worry about,  such as high unemployment and high fuel prices.

As recently as August-2007, over half of all respondents told pollsters at Ipsos MORI that crime was one of the most important issues facing the country, despite its long decline.

Now economic concerns are entrenched in the lead.

Though the riots in August 2011  pushed Law and Order briefly in the fore, even then the economy twice as many as blazing inner cities. In May's poll, 2012. crime was at its least salient since 2001.

Stephen Farrall, a criminologist at Sheffield University, points out that hard times and crimes are not true alternatives.   

'' The economy drives crime-

If the economy tanks,  people should worry about crime, -

But when there is economic turmoil, they worry about that most.''

He suspects crime rates will rise, driven by stagnated growth and cuts in welfare.

If that happens, expect fear to fly again.

But Time enough for a state of renewal -especially in the developing world, So should we begin renewing our expectations?!

With respectful dedication to all the Leaders of the free world. See Ya all........ Your Excellencies on !WOW!   -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''' Bleeding & Leading '''

'''Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless