Rising crime rates around the world are a major concern, particularly against the backdrop of the increasing transnational nature which is being fuelled by the illicit drug trade and terrorism.
According to an article in Goliath Business Knowledge, crime in the United States is bottoming out after a steep slide downward during the past decade. But crime in many other nations–particularly in Eastern and parts of Western Europe–has continued to climb. In the United States, street crimes overall remain near historic lows, prompting some analysts to declare life in the United States safer than it has ever been. In fact, statistics show that, despite terrorism, the world as a whole seems to be becoming safer. This is in sharp contrast to the perceptions of Americans and others, as polls indicate they believe the world becomes more dangerous every day.

Although the United States still has more violent crime than other industrialised nations and still ranks high in overall crime, the nation has nevertheless been experiencing a decline in crime numbers. Meanwhile, a number of European countries are catching up; traditionally low-crime societies such as Denmark and Finland, are near the top in street crime rates today. Other countries that weren’t even on the crime radar–such as Japan–are also experiencing a rise in crime.

Comparing crime rates across countries is difficult. Different definitions of crime, among other factors, make official crime statistics notoriously unreliable. However, the periodic World Crime Survey, a UN initiative to track global crime rates, may offer the most reliable figures currently available:

* Overall crime (homicide, rape, major assault, robbery) and property crimes. The United States in 1980 clearly led the Western world in overall crime and ranked particularly high in property crimes. A decade later, statistics show a marked decline in U.S. property crimes. By 2000, overall crime rates for the U.S. dropped below those of England and Wales, Denmark, and Finland, while U.S. property-crime rates also continued to decline.

* Homicide. The United States had consistently higher homicide rates than most Western nations from 1980 to 2000. In the 1990s, the U.S. rate was cut almost in half, but the 2000 rate of 5.5 homicides per 100,000 people was still higher than all nations except those in political and social turmoil. Colombia, for instance, had 63 homicides per 100,000 people; South Africa, 51.

* Rape. In 1980 and 1990, U.S. rape rates were higher than those of any Western nation, but by 2000, Canada took the lead. The lowest reported rape rates were in Asia and the Middle East.

* Robbery has been on a steady decline in the United States over the past two decades. As of 2000, countries with more reported robberies than the United States included England and Wales, Portugal, and Spain. Countries with fewer reported robberies include Germany, Italy, and France, as well as Middle Eastern and Asian nations.

* Burglary, usually considered the most serious property crime, is lower in the United States today than it was in 1980. As of 2000, the United States had lower burglary rates than Australia, Denmark, Finland, England and Wales, and Canada. It had higher reported burglary rates than Spain, Korea, and Saudi Arabia.
Here in the Caribbean, which was once characterised by  low crime rates, there is much concern today as the crime rates are high in many countries.
“High rates of crime and violence in the Caribbean are undermining growth, threatening human welfare, and impeding social development,” according to a new report by the World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The report, “Crime, Violence, and Development: Trends, Costs, and Policy Options in the Caribbean,” found that murder rates in the Caribbean are higher than in any other regions of the world.
Overall, murders occur in the Caribbean at a rate of 30 per 100,000 people. Comparably, in Eastern Europe, murder rates are at 17 per 100,000, in the United States, seven.
Assault rates in the Caribbean are also significantly above the world average, and rates of rape, kidnapping and other violent crimes have also been on the rise, according to the report.
Finding a solution for the rising crime rates is not easy because of the complexities of criminal activities and the lack of adequate human, financial and technological resources in most Caribbean countries. So, one of the approaches has to be a preventative one which includes everyone, rather than leaving it to the security forces alone. The crime fight has to be everybody’s business.
In this regard, our Crime Chief Seelall Persaud recently made some interesting and pertinent observations. He pointed out that armed robberies usually take place during large cash transactions where there is no security in place for businesses as well as individuals.
Persaud said that persons continue to leave large sums of money in their cars unattended and some businesses do not use bank transactions but their employees, while other places of business have lone watchmen, who are over 70 years old and have to work 12-hour shifts, with their surveillance cameras non-functioning or not turned on.
He said: “We have to be conscious, especially in the countryside, where men walk down streets and see an open door and get an opportunity to commit a crime and, generally, there is a lack of awareness where some people have no consideration for security, no planning in business transactions and the need for businesses to use the banks rather than employees to do money transactions.”
Persaud noted that the police depend heavily on the public for information evidence, in light of identifying suspects of crimes but there has been significant work with communities and improved cooperation.
What the Crime Chief is saying is that we must avoid creating opportunities for the criminals. This certainly makes sense and therefore his exhortation should be heeded by all. The police simply cannot fight crime alone.