Almost 80 percent of Americans, and 92 percent of Republicans, think crime has gone up. It actually fell in 2023. An expert blames a familiar culprit for the mistaken impression.
Well, I read.the article, then asked two relatives who are both cops.
Obviously their experience is localized, but the response I got from them that overall violent crimes are not down, they are in fact up. I won't go into any details but they both indicated things like house break-ins are down most likely due to work from home but murders, which I would consider violent crime are not trending down.
Jaded much? I asked for their personal experience, and our conversation was candid, and not politically charged. They had a lot of details about what crime was up, what crimes were lower etc, how many people go on 'gun related' calls now compared to a few years ago etc. Compared how many people had to go out on homicide calls compared to a few years ago.
Their political alignment doesn't change their actual experiences. I know these two quite well and they are not telling me some lies to fit some agenda or counter a news article.
Take it however you want, but I don't line up all my opinions from only "one side" because of a team I'm on. I try to remain a centralized and open minded as I can.
Cops are pretty racist though. Like systemically the racism is fueled off of fear of crime. If cops can convince people that crime is on the rise, they get money to do more racism. And the entire system is designed that way. So... take what your cop relatives say with a grain of salt.
This isn't to say that your relatives are racist, btw, but instead its to say that the institution is designed to oppress, and thrives off fearmongering about rising crime.
Sorry bud. You're posting on an echo chamber full tribalistic boot lickers. They want a world where they feel protected by others so badly that they convince themselves it's ok to make sure nobody has the means to protect themselves.
What their experience is, is anecdotal, not "localized". It doesn't indicate anything about the actual reality of the statistics. The places they patrol do not represent all of crime everywhere.
Not to be rude but that is worth little to nothing in the frame of this discussion. Crime will go up in some areas and down in others. FBI data compiles all of that data, including the precinct of your relatives. The data shows overall numbers are down.
Now if the discussion was about what areas have seen upticks and why, then you information would be slightly more relevant. Even then, we would still need to clarify whether your relatives gave you their statement based on a report provided by their precinct or based on their personal experience.