Counting crime

Finally a Lib Dem spot for those who visit this blog and wonder why it appears on so many Lib Dem bloggers' websites and yet seems more concerned with academic life.

I see from yesterday's BBC Politics Show that Lib Dem Islington's preference for voluntary Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) over anti-social behaviour order (ASBOs) hasn't helped reduce crime in anything like as dramatic a form as that of Labour-controlled Camden, with its penchant to write one out for the smallest infraction.

I didn't see the whole piece (capoeira meeting to go to), but looking at figures only tells one side of the story - just as evaluating students by looking at their grades does. I wonder whether there are other ways of assessing how the approach is perceived - and not just measured in black-and-white terms. It would also be interesting to see whether the falls in crime have taken place across the whole of the borough or within specific problem areas (and that information may not be available in government statistics, if I recall anything about their format).

Just a thought.