So is crime in England going down or is it going up? Based on this, any official figures our resident Brits trot out are suspect because of the source................
From the : Conservative
Davis: Rise in crime is even higher than official statistics show
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis has today highlighted the distorted picture on crime figures, which shows that crime rises in the last eight years could be even higher than official statistics suggest.
David Davis said:
"The revelation that the new counting rules introduced by the Home Office were designed to understate crime and overstate detection rates provides more evidence that Mr Blair uses statistics for the purpose of spin rather than information. This goes some way to explaining why Labour's attempts to convince people that crime is going down is at odds with the perceptions and observations of the public.
"The official statistics, which don't even allow for the fact that officers have been instructed to double or triple count certain crimes, shows that crime in Britain is rising. Violent crime has risen by 83% and gun crime has doubled. This makes a mockery of Mr Blair's promise to be tough on crime.
"We are committed to recruiting 5,000 police officers a year and freeing them from politically correct paperwork that keeps them chained to their desks instead of out on the beat fighting crime. Only action like this will get a grip on Britain's crime problem."
ENDS
Rt Hon David Davis
17/04/2005
