As crime statistics are compiled in two ways, or maybe more, the public do get affected, as they do not know what figures to accept or believe. It is obvious that people would like to believe that the statistics, which show the least amount of crime

 As crime statistics are compiled in two ways, or maybe more, the public do get affected, as they do not know what figures to accept or believe. It is obvious that people would like to believe that the statistics, which show the least amount of crime, is true in comparison to statistics which show an increase in crime. However, to improve the current system, the Government is trying to make all police forces record crimes in the same way in order to make their new figures comparable. Under the new rules, officers must record a crime anything that is reported as a crime. In the past, if an officer thought that someone was lying (hoping for compensation perhaps) or thought that the crime was not as major as murder for example, then he or she did not nee to record it. If the Government do succeed in the new system of compiling statistics then crime statistics may become increasingly reliable. This is because all crime is recorded, no matter how big or small the crime is. However the statistics may not necessarily be entirely true, as many people may not report their crime to the police. The majority of the crime not being reported is due to the fear within oneself, or victims may not think that the crime they have been involved in was minor. Victims who are scared are more likely to be those involved in domestic violence or other sort of abuse. If there was a couple, and the husband regularly abused his wife, the wife would get scared to report this to the police as she may believe that if her husband find out then he will take revenge and might abuse her even more which may sometimes lead to extents such as murder. Or there maybe cases where teenagers have been abused by bullies in school. They might be frightened to tell an adult, let alone the police as they may be seen as a ‘grass’ (informer, which generally leads to getting someone in trouble). If the victims do not report crime then police cannot record those crimes, which cause inaccurate results for the police statistics. Victims need to be ensured that whatever they say, it entirely confidential and that they will be supported all the way. If more people report crime, statistics will gradually become reliable. Even if people believe that a theft of an insured mobile phone is not a major crime to be reported, one may believe that it is necessary to report this crime so police can record it, which means that statistics will be more accurate.

Official crime statistics may not be entirely reliable however, it does keep the public aware of crime either increasing or decreasing in particular areas. Crime will probably never stop, so it will be very difficult to believe what statistics are true. If the Government change the existing ways of calculating figures, then hopefully statistics will become reliable, however, it also depends on the police, as they need to record all crime. Matters can be improved if more victims have the confidence to report crime and of all crime is recorded by the police; this should hopefully give accurate, reliable statistics.