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How Low Can the Crime Rate Go?
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Posted on
Feb 01 2008 12:12 AM
by
Asif
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To anyone who looks over their shoulder walking home late at night in a big city, the idea that America has won its war on violent crime might seem absurd. But the continuing drop in violent crime in big cities across the country makes it seem possible. The FBI recently reported that homicides fell by 6.5% in the country's biggest cities — those with populations of one million and up — through the first six months of 2007, and by about 1% across the U.S. Violent crime, overall, was off by about 2%. Even more astoundingly, New York City ended 2007 with 496 murders, the lowest number since 1963 [when statistics were first collected] — spurring New York magazine to ask the provocative question, "What would it take [for the murder rate] to go all the way to zero?"
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 mark alpert - 2/1/2008 12:14:54 PM
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| I was astounded to read this article and find no mention of the real reason why crime is down throughout the U.S. The reason, of course, is that nearly every citizen carries a cell-phone. Every citizen
now constitutes membership in a vast 150,000,000 plus nation-wide "neighborhood watch". Every citizen armed with a cell-phone can call in a crime to 911 which he or she is witnessing as it is taking place, give a real description in real time
of the perpetrator, what direction they are fleeing towards, etc. and perhaps video the entire crime in progress which will later serve as admissible evidence in
a court of law. It's truly been a case of "street criminals beware -- you are being watched!" ever since the general wide dissemination of cell-phone ownership these past few years.
The fact that our big-city mayors and police chiefs have taken the credit for lowering crime rates is ludicrous. The real
heros are Samsung, Nokia, Magnavox and ATT, Verizon, Sprint, etc. offering ever
cheaper phones and ever better satellite service to their millions of customers. |
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