Another New Labour triumph has been turned upon its head. Despite Gordon “McCavity” Brown declaiming that crime had been reduced massively under their careful stewardship, it seems that it was all just an illusion, a carefully constructed sham of carefully spun and stage-managed opinion polling. When someone sat down and compared actual crime reports, a completely different picture emerged:

Violent attacks are estimated to be 44 per cent higher than they were in 1998 after research on the way police record them allowed comparisons for the first time.

The study, by the independent House of Commons Library, shows violence against the person increased from 618,417 to 887,942 last year.

This is quite astonishing, really. Everyone I know has felt that the government statistics saying that crime was falling were not how they saw things, but they had no proof and it seemed that the government had proof that things were getting better. Perhaps it’s time to update an old saying: there are lies, damned lies, statistics and government statistics.

Compare and contrast:

David Green, criminologist and director of Civitas, said the Government had a reputation for “scheming and manipulation”, adding: “I think the Government knew perfectly well in 2002/03 that it would be very helpful to say ’sorry we cannot go back beyond this date’ because they did not want a consistent historical series.”

with:

In a major speech on crime last week, Mr Brown said: “Crime is falling. Fact. Down by more than a third since 1997. Fact. That’s 6 million fewer crimes each year. Fact. Almost 1 million fewer homes burgled. Fact. Almost 1 and a half million fewer violent crimes. Fact.”

Our beloved Prime Minister, telling porkies? Surely not!

1
PT March 11, 2010 at 09:08

Police crime stats have always been manipulated, from the most junior level upwards, from bobby’s beat to Chief Constable’s County. The higher echelons, of course, can decree wholesale distortion, downgrading “crime” reports to “incident” reports, directing that an apparent series of crimes against an individual, a company, or within an area, be recorded as one single “ongoing” crime – but on those few occasions when a perpetrator is caught, each single crime , however small, sweated out of him as a T.I.C. is recorded individually as a detected crime. These and other such sophistries are used extensively by the Establishment and its good and faithful servants to show us how well we have been served. ‘Twas ever thus, and always will be, as long as police efficiency is judged exclusively on the basis of bent statistics.

2
Gloria Smudd March 11, 2010 at 09:14

So you didn’t believe this morning’s ‘Loocal Nuws’ transmission about a certain Eastern Counties police force exceeding its targets in every regard? No? I didn’t either.

Mr Brown could have said “Policemen are filling in their forms so that it looks like crime is falling. Let’s call that a Fact. Figures on the forms claim crime is down by more than a third since 1997. Let’s call that a Fact. We’ll say that’s 6 million fewer crimes each year and call that a Fact. Almost 1 million fewer homes burgled sounds good, so let’s call that a Fact. Even better if we suggest that crime has dropped by almost 1 and a half million fewer violent crimes, so let’s call that a Fact too.”

3
Gloria Smudd March 11, 2010 at 09:21

In fact, in 1997 none of my friends’ children had been stabbed to death. By 2007 one had been. That’s not exactly down more than a third as far as the boy’s parents are concerned.

4
Letters From A Tory March 11, 2010 at 09:31

The Guardian had a whole-page monologue from Alan Johnson yesterday masquerading as a news item, explaining why the Conservatives are wrong about this and are also pure evil.

Desperate stuff.

5
Blink March 11, 2010 at 17:10

The only crime committed in this country over the last 13 years is the new labour government