Opinion: Crime statistics are only part of the story

Christchurch crime statistics talk down the level of crime in the city. Photo / File

OPINION

There’s a saying I refer to when someone tries to deny there’s a problem by putting up a whole lot of stats as some sort of defence or excuse.

And that is exactly what we’ve got happening in relation to crime in Christchurch.

The saying goes like this: “People don’t care what you know until they know that you care.”

Canterbury Metro Area Commander Superintendent Lane Todd. Photo / Rachel Das

Which is the message I’m giving to Canterbury area police commander Superintendent Lane Todd.

Now Lane is a good guy. I don’t know him personally or socially, but I had quite a bit to do with him quite a few years ago when he and I were working in the same town.

Nevertheless, he has well and truly fallen into the trap of minimising our concerns about crime here in Christchurch - and not just in Christchurch, the whole Canterbury area - by trotting out statistics.

His take on crime here is at complete odds with the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce which is saying that the city’s reputation and the economy is at risk because of the criminal activity that’s happening.

What she’s saying, is that criminal and anti-social behaviour is being left uncontrolled and that could have a lasting impact on Christchurch’s reputation. And she’s saying that people are telling her they don’t want to walk through the city because they think it’s too dangerous.

Lane Todd from the police, meanwhile, is saying the data tells a different story. He’s saying that the level of crime in the city is on par with what it was before the pandemic.

He’s also saying that the population of Christchurch has increased by 20,000 in the past four years and so, of course, with more people - there’ll be more crime.

But statistics tell the whole story. Because they only reflect the things that are actually reported to and investigated by the Police, don’t they?

The stats that lane Todd is throwing around don’t reflect the fact that people just don’t feel as safe as they used to. And that’s not just me saying that - the Chamber of Commerce is saying that too.

The stats that Lane Todd is throwing around don’t reflect the fact that a lot of people just don’t bother reporting things to the Police because they know the backlog of jobs is so long, that it’s just not worth it.

Another thing the stats don’t represent, are the truckloads of people that you hear about who contact the Police about something happening and are told that, because there’s no actual crime being committed, they can’t do anything.

An example of that would be the business owner we spoke to a few weeks back who has this known sex offender standing outside his shop just down the road from the central police station on a regular basis.

This guy freaks out the female staff who work at the shop but the business owner rings the Police and they’re either a no-show or they say they can’t do anything because the guy’s not breaking any law when he stands on the street staring at them.

This is all very well but, surely, if we had more regular patrols on the streets this kind of anti-social behaviour could either be shut down or would certainly happen less often.

And that’s where the Canterbury area police commander is way off the mark. Because anti-social behaviour can be just as harmful as criminal behaviour, can’t it?

And yes, the stats might back up his claim that crime hasn’t spiked. But the stats are only part of it.