Kerre Woodham: The Govt says crime is coming down, do you believe that?

You know it's an election year, don't you, because crime, law and order is front and centre.

Although to be fair, crime has been making headlines since the ram raids, and since the Government kept telling us crime was going down and we didn't really feel like it was.

Now, National’s police spokesperson Mark Mitchell has produced a set of figures from police that show the number of reported retail crime incidents has spiked to more than 10,000 in a single month, the highest in recorded history.

In the 12 months to 30 November last year, an average of 8541 retail crime incidents were recorded monthly. In October 2022 alone there were 10,020 incidents.

During the same period up to 30 November 2018, an average of 4336 retail crime incidents were recorded, just half the number we're seeing today.

Jevon McSkimming, the Deputy Police Commissioner was on with Mike Hosking this morning, he said it's not necessarily that there's more crime, it's just that more crime is being recorded.

He also goes on to say that it's all well and good to arrest people, but all the component parts within the judicial system have their part to play.

Stats are difficult. As Jevon McSkimming said, our data is better now so that every single incident gets recorded.

So, a shoplifting incident that five years ago might not have come to the police attention, now does. So that's why it looks like there's more crime.

And then you've got the Government saying, well, crime is coming down. How do you know that?

Well, because the number of assaults recorded has gone down. Is that on the police data or on prosecutions?

Because if you're trying to keep people out of jail and you're not prosecuting them, then the figures will come down. It doesn't mean there's any less crime. It's all incredibly confusing.

And depending on which stats you want, I suppose you can craft your own narrative, can't you? Lies, damn lies and statistics. Are you on Team Jevon or Team Mitchell?

Do you believe that more data is being collected, that the police are doing a great job in rounding up the people who are committing crime?

Or is more crime being committed because people feel emboldened and entitled and they know that nobody's going to touch them if they march out of a supermarket with their trolleys laden full of groceries that don't belong to them?

I tend towards the latter camp.

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