BLOGS: It's all black and white ...

Reporting crime statistics isn't an easy job. The Victorian police haven't been as proficient in this area as they could be. Hence when the Victorian Opposition Leader asked the Victorian Ombudsman to look into the matter in April 2008, it was taken seriously. You can read the Ombudsman's full report here.

The goals of the Ombudsman's investigation are summed up in his report as follows:

... it was my view that uncertainty regarding the validity of crime statistics and police numbers needed to be resolved. Ongoing debate about the integrity and accuracy of this data could undermine public confidence in Victoria Police and have a deleterious effect on the quality of public debate regarding law and order issues.

My investigation was concerned with two key issues. Firstly, do Victoria Police crime statistics accurately reflect the community’s experience of crime as it is reported to police? Secondly, can the public have confidence that the information about the number and availability of police in Victoria is accurately reported?

I confess that I haven't read the full report. I'm not sure if Herald Sun blogger Andrew Bolt has. However, he's already drawn some conclusions.

And what are these conclusions? Do they merely concern the alleged massaging of crime statistics? Was it just about police numbers? In fact Andrew's concerns are also about whether ...

... the crime rate among African refugees was not higher than for everyone else ...

... and about how ...

... police and court protocols in dealing with minorities.

Again, I admit I haven't read the full report. But it might have been useful for Mr Bolt to have pointed out precisely where the Ombudsman talks about crime amongst African and other minorities.

Andrew's commenters have less hesitation in pointing the fingers ...

rick9 replied to Barry Bones Wed 11 Mar 09 (05:40pm)
stats on whites are easy to find, and are not being hidden by PC police management. When the ‘force’ tries to shy away from doing their job and becomes an instrument of mushy multiculturalism, society has a BIG problem

Second alleged murder in Adelaide by African men. Both against fellow Africans. That is 2 murders this past year for an ethnic group only numbering 2000.
crime rep (Reply) Wed 11 Mar 09 (07:29pm)

And so a legitimate discussion about crime statistics and police numbers becomes an exercise in trying to prove that African migrants are more crooked than the rest of us. But don't dare call this racism lest you be accused of being "PC" or "bleeding heart" or a "lefty". Or worst of all, a "Muslim".

Words © 2009 Irfan Yusuf


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