British Crime Rates

I was surprised by some statistics from this post on British versus American self defense:

What British police condemn as "vigilante" behaviour has produced an American burglary rate less than half the English rate. And, while 53 per cent of English burglaries occur when someone is at home, only 13 per cent do in America

It seems that if this were true, stories of being at home and burglarized would be fairly common in Britain. Is this true?

This entry was posted on Monday, November 1st, 2004 at 11:58 am and is filed under Politics. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “British Crime Rates”

  1. Hi.

    Hm, these things always seem to be rather alarmist.

    I live in Tottenham in London which has one of the worst crime rates in the country. I have never seen or been a victim of crime. The only one I have been in contact with was a break-in next door when the house was empty and in the process of being sold. The "burglar" was caught within 5 minutes. Sadly we were out at the time.

    I have only one UK friend (of hundreds) who has ever been a victim of a robbery, a mugging that started as a fight. In the same time period I know three people who have lost belongings in house fires and one friend has died in a traffic accident. In fact I have seen, been in or witnessed countless car accidents.

    By way of balance I know of nobody who has been struck by lightning or won the national lottery (the former is three times more likely). I am 41 :) .

    yours, Marcus

    By Marcus Baker on November 1st, 2004 at 3:43 pm

  2. Hi...

    Correction! I have just remembered an aquaintence who was struck by lightning. He was climbing a mountain up a metal ladder in Austria, so I guess that doesn't count :) .

    yours, Marcus

    By Marcus Baker on November 1st, 2004 at 3:52 pm

  3. You are not going to believe this, but I have just been witness to a bag snatch! Got to cruise the neighbourhood in a police car and everything. With sod's law I suppose it just had to happen...

    yours, Marcus

    By Marcus Baker on November 3rd, 2004 at 1:43 pm

  4. Amazing.

    By Jeff Moore on November 5th, 2004 at 10:47 am

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