Breathtaking spin

Isn't this just the most breathtaking spin? Annette King responding to the release of 2006 crime statistics;

"It is interesting to reflect that in 1996-97 there were only 15, 242 family violence incidents reported compared with 37,112 in 2006. That shows that not only are efforts to encourage New Zealanders to report such offences actually working, but that New Zealanders feel safe in approaching the police, and that they trust the police to take appropriate action," she said.

In which case the higher reports go, the better things are!

The only way to tell if more people are reporting, as opposed to experiencing, crime is by comparing victimisation surveys to actual police statistics, over time.

1996 - In general, the survey found that there were an estimated 2 million offences (including attempts but excluding commercial and business offences) against households and against individuals aged 15 and over in New Zealand during the 1995 calendar year and that only a small proportion of the offences disclosed in the survey (less than 13%) were recorded by the Police.

2001 - The survey count of victimisations was 1,779,657; the number of offences recorded in the Police statistics, at 263,099, represent 15% of this.

As far as I can ascertain 2006 is not available yet. We will have to wait and see how right Annette King is.