>Reported crime [...] should not form the basis of a policing strategy.
and:
>When police cease to act on reports of crime, people have no incentive to report crime.
Logically, then, reported crime should form the basis of a policing strategy, since it creates an incentive to report crime.
Past policing strategy means that current crime stats are unreliable. These current crime stats should therefore not form the basis of a future policing strategy.
If we're optimizing for getting results today, policing strategy should not rely on the flawed crime stats we have today.
If we're optimizing for the long term, then sure rely on crime stats, but first make it easy to report crime.
People will report crimes that:
- they think the police will do something about, and/or
- they need to report in order to file an insurance claim
If your car window gets smashed and you're not going to report it to your insurer lest it raises your premium next year, and if you know the police aren't going to investigate, why would you report it?