Comments on: If crime is down, why don’t people feel safer?

By: Mike Walmsley

Mike Walmsley — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:32:19 +0000

And a further note to Matthew………
There was no "science" involved in the recent drive by shooting on Dublin street, it was just two blocks from my house. Many of my neighbour heard the shots, I'm sure they would be gratified to know that science was on their side…… Our neighbourhood is riddled with hateful thugs doing hateful things, what is this the 4th drive by shooting in the West End including injuries and death. I'm sure the victims and neighbours feel cold comfort with your assertions.

By: Mike Walmsley

Mike Walmsley — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:21:22 +0000

Can can we think crime is down when yet another drive by shooting in the west end??
Neighbours avoid going for walks and fear being alone on the streets at night!
Wow, great way to feel safe in your own community.

By: Jan Fialkowski

Jan Fialkowski — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:58:46 +0000

Several weeks ago I responded to a story in the NewsLeader that crime in New Westminster has gone down. In my letter to the editor and on the Voice New Westminster blog, I indicated that I, personally, didn’t feel any safer knowing that crime was down in the city. Being safer and feeling safer are two different things, aren’t they? The likelihood of my being mugged in the park is probably low; the likelihood of being hit by a car while crossing the street is higher. I’d prefer not to experience either, and I take equal precautions to ensure that neither happens if I can help it. I believe that’s assessing risk. It would be nice if being and feeling was the same thing.

Matthew Laird refers to our ancestors being wired to avoid the tiger in the bushes. There are still bushes and there are still tigers in the bushes – regrettably they tend to be the two-legged kind. Last night my car was keyed in front of the house, Thursday morning shots were fired 8 blocks from my house and less than a week ago, the police arrested a 22 year old man in my neighbourhood on suspicion of drug trafficking. I’m still not feeling safer.

I recommend reading the Great Neighborhood Book by Jay Walljasper and have a look at a Project for Public Spaces website. If only the guy who keyed my car had.

By: Norman Wriglesworth

Norman Wriglesworth — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:48:39 +0000

What we need is a COURT DOCKET and police reports for the week either on the police web or the paper, so we can see for ourselves rather then statistics that can be manipulated by our rather questionable police board.

I for one don't feel safer, having my life threatened twice this year by young thugs.

N.W.

By: Briana Tomkinson

Briana Tomkinson — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:14:56 +0000

Hi David: A "newspaper beat" is a topic that is closely followed by a specialist reporter. For example, there would be a reporter whose "beat" is crime. I meant that the crime stories we see in newspapers often make us more scared than we ought to be given the statistical likelihood of becoming a victim of a similar crime.

By: David

David — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 13:58:32 +0000

Can you please elaborate on the "newspaper crime beat". Is this some sort of scam? I have never heard of it.

thx.

By: Matthew Laird

Matthew Laird — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:58:04 +0000

This is a topic that's been on my mind for a long time too. A few years ago I attended the 2-day NWPS strategic review workshop as one of the community representatives. It was fascinating having this glimpse in to the NWPS and spending two days talking and brainstorming with NWPS members.

Crime IS down in our city. Its been decades since its been this safe to walk down the streets at night. Yet the perception of increased danger is there. This was a topic that came up time and time again during the workshop. In pretty much all the exercises the recommendation that bubbled to the top was not how to make our streets safer, it was always how to make our street FEEL safer. There was no doubt from the NWPS members in the room our street WERE safe already.

A lot of the fear we see is instinctual, a lot of the manipulation on these fears by politicians is playing to these baser instincts. We're wired to see things in the shadows, from the days our ancestors had to keep an eye out for a tiger hiding in the bushes ready to pounce. But we're not in the jungle anymore and we do have to learn to use these higher brain functions to properly weight the real risks from the perceived. To be controlled these instincts, which valuable as they may be at times, should not drive our every day lives and reactions.

You're absolutely right, we're not very good at realistically weighing risks. Statistics and proper risk assessment based on science should be better taught so we can all make more sound judgments, not just with respect to crime but with respect to all aspects of our lives. Science!

By: Rob J

Rob J — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:48:04 +0000

One thing I remember about my childhood is the moments when I took incredible personal risks, like (gasp!) walking to school on my own!! And yet, the instances of dangers I faced were no greater than they would be today, statistically speaking. It’s just that these stories that we hear about are now coming at us all the time through 24 hour media. I think that with the great benefits of multimedia and technology, we have to exercise a certain brand of discernment, to keep us from thinking that our lives aren’t going to turn into an episode of Criminal Minds unless we’re very, very careful.

The greater burden on us of course is not to raise generations of children who feel that the world is utterly inhospitable to them, and that people they don’t know are not to be trusted. This is a major burden for our generation in particular as parents of young children. We must fight against reducing ourselves to the role of security ‘copters, and allow our children to explore our world, so that they can learn how to contribute in repairing it, or at least closer to how we feel our world should be.

Maybe this requires stories, too. But, the right ones.

By: Jon Strocel

Jon Strocel — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 19:24:39 +0000

Fantastic post. Assessing risk is something we never do very well, and sensational stories do play better than much more real dangers like unattended kids around swimming pools. The more you know the people around you, the better off we are, and the more we can create those ties between neighbours, the more we’ll know that the world isn’t a scary place after all.