We often rail against public leadership in its failure around parks and flood protection issues, but today’s column by Dan Walters reminds us that public leadership can do great and very good things; and the falling (almost off the charts) crime rates is one such thing they have to be very proud of in California.
An excerpt.
Dan Walters: Crime rate is falling, but importance as political issue remains
By Dan Walters -- Bee Columnist Published 12:01 am PDT Monday, July 17, 2006
Fear of crime -- once an obsession -- appears to have faded as a major concern for Californians, and for good reason.
The state Department of Justice reported recently that the number of violent crimes committed in California dropped from nearly 350,000 in 1992 to well under 200,000 last year, and when population growth is included, the actual violent crime rate is just half of what it was then.
There's been a similar, if slightly less dramatic, drop in property crimes.
The causes of the crime decline are much in dispute among those who deign to offer opinions, ranging from demography to a much-improved economy, better policing and the effects of "three strikes and you're out" and other get-tough sentencing laws.
Whatever its causes, the trend is reflected in polls of Californians indicating that while they are worried about many aspects of their lives these days, crime isn't one of them. When the Public Policy Institute of California polled Californians recently on what issues they want the candidates for governor to address, crime didn't even make the list. Immigration was No. 1, followed by education, state finances, the economy and infrastructure deficiencies. The same poll also found that when Californians were asked to rank priorities for spending more public money, education was on top, with just 24 percent listing prisons.
