"OVER-REPORTING" OF CRIMES?

An email from a reader

"Britain has some of the toughest gun laws in Western society. They have a total ban on the possession of handguns, a comprehensive registration and permit system for rifles, and lawful gun owners must have a 'genuine reason' to possess firearms. But - once again the facts show that so called "tough" gun laws don't work. They don't work because they are mostly "tough" on responsible and lawful persons. Laws that deal effectively with firearms misuse have two main supports:

(1) They encourage responsible gun owners (who will then co-operate with Police and Government) and

(2) They deal severely with ALL CRIME - and the criminal misuse of firearms - which is a small segment of all crime.

Read this report of the big leap in UK crime revealed in 2003 - and note that the 'reason' for the increase in crime is "new police methods of recording crime where incidents seen by officers are logged even if they have not been reported"

Ha Ha! I guess that means that previously such incidents were 'non crimes'? What about the crimes that are reported but NOT recorded - the Brits seem to be good at that. The Police slang term is apparantly "cuffing"!!"

The idea that the police are rushing to record crime they did not record before does stretch credibility to breaking point. Police HATE paperwork! See here