Question

Why do you feel that there is so much of a focus on a citizen’s “fear of crime”?

Many times citizens have an unrealistic fear of crime. The citizen’s actual chances of being a victim of crime are fairly low. What are your thoughts on using police resources to confront an unrealistic fear of crime vs. using police resources to address real crime problems?

Answer 1

Human beings are social animals and they carry an intuition of fear which is inborn. As humans progressed and learnt to live in a society, they formed certain institutions that would protect them from outside attacks or invasion. Today, the problem of crime is very unpredictable that internal members have started hurting each other for various reasons. So, it’s like never trust a stranger. People are afraid of every other person who are new to them. This fear is natural and reasonable within any civilized society. I would it’s could be called caution rather than fear. With enormous crime rate prevalent in the society today, one may not be able to walk freely at nights or alone.

Police department can make the citizens aware of the crime zones, criminals, crime trends and timings, so that they would be at least aware of these things. They would make necessary arrangements in case they have to go through any of the above conditions. Police department should also increase their patrolling time and monitor the prospective criminals who are on loose. Police can also maintain the anonymity of the public informers who report crimes to the police rather than calling them publicly and enquire as this would put them in danger.