Miscellaneous Crime

1) In Australia police are trying to reduce crime statistics by gaming the numbers. However, they are setting some limits: "the email said any request to downgrade more than 25 sub-incidents to a single incident should be referred to a supervisor."

2) In Argentina bank robbers were shut down so they turned to kidnapping. The police are helping - the kidnappers:

Axel Blumberg managed to escape his kidnappers briefly and run down the street calling for help. Neighbors called police -- and were ordered back into their houses. Two senior police officers were later charged with taking bribes to turn a blind eye to the kidnapping.
. . . .
The public's mistrust of police runs so deep in Argentina that people often don't even report kidnappings to the police for fear that officers are involved. Instead, they hire private experts to negotiate with kidnappers, and frequently pay ransom.

Yep, I'd pay it too.

3) Sometimes increasing police patrols really doesn't accomplish the mission:

They tried increasing visibility [of patrol] but that only displaced the crimes and didn't help to catch anyone.

The next option? Catch 'em. And that's what these police did.

4) "Current under-reporting of the dynamics of modern-day slavery amounts to treason to our global community. This is a terrorism issue. Not only do reports ignore victims who are nationals of the countries in which their trafficking is occurring, they are silent on the impact this terrorism has on the rest of the community." A serious problem but also a case study in how people addressing a serious problem will try to cram it into the framework of "THE" serious problem of an age (the one getting all the attention and funds) even when it absolutely does not fit.

5) "Organized crime gangs dominate parts of Bulgaria, and the EU aspirant's prosecutors ignore corruption while intimidating in Cold War style those who expose graft, the top U.S. official in Sofia said on Friday." Which only leaves me with one burning question: what the heck is an aspirant? Someone who wants to be? And why would the EU put someone who shows such a shocking lack of the study of Descartes in charge of prosecutors?