Exposed: More Tory misuse of crime stats

Good Society

Following Chris Grayling's manipulation of crime stats this week, it has emerged that backbench Tory MPs are doing the same off their own backs.

Following Chris Grayling’s very public slap on the wrist for manipulating crime statistics yesterday, it has emerged that it is not only the Shadow Home Secretary engaging in sharp practice – backbench Tory MPs are doing the same off their own backs.

As far back as last autumn, long before Grayling’s memos to Tory candidates, Putney MP Justine Greening falsely claimed on her blog that there had been a “burglary rise locally”, writing “locally we’ve recently also seen burglaries rise which is very concerning indeed”.

The statistics, however, tell a very different story: The burglary rate in every single ward in Putney fell in the year to October 2009.

And in July, she said:

“We’ve recently seen a large increase in burglaries”

The stats, again, prove her wrong – from May 2007 to July 2009 the burglary rate in Putney fell from more than 15 burglaries per thousand of the population to less than 10.

Earlier this week, Left Foot Forward reported Grayling’s ignorance on the inclusion of under-16s in the British Crime Survey, following the BBC’s eposé of his misrepresentation of crime statistics and his disastrous appearance on the Today programme.

• Hat tip: Stuart King

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17 Responses to “Exposed: More Tory misuse of crime stats”

  1. Will

    Chris Grayling Downfall movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlwrZNaJ9HE

  2. uberVU - social comments

    Social comments and analytics for this post…

    This post was mentioned on Twitter by poblishLab: @leftfootfwd “More misuse of Tory crime stats”: Following Chris Grayling’s very public slap on the wrist for… http://bit.ly/bAn1Wj #labour…

  3. A Zimbo

    Give me a break Tom. You obviously fell hook line and sinker for the ZanuLiebour spin machine’s mendacious bullshit. Perhaps if I post this link to a more Left wing Pravdaesque govt mouthpiece you might be able to accept what we all in the population know to be the truth. Liebour lies!

    Massaging the crime figures

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/20/crime-figures

    Meanwhile, Home Office ministers added to the public’s growing mistrust and confusion over government statistics by introducing major changes to the rules for police crime recording so that – as one officer put it to me – “looking for trends in the police figures is now a bit like trying to read tea leaves.” This enabled them to persuade sections of the media that the Home Office’s British Crime Survey (BCS) was the only definitive measure of crime. Yet the BCS also had limitations – especially with regard to crime among young people in the most deprived inner-city areas; and it was completely ignored by Tony Blair when, in 2002, he made it his personal mission to get street crime down in the light of soaring police figures but at a time when the BCS was showing no increase in the problem.

  4. Tom Pearson

    A favoured Tory & BNP tactic RT @leftfootfwd: Exposed: More Tory misuse of crime stats http://is.gd/7KZDV

  5. Martin Johnston

    RT @leftfootfwd: Exposed: More Tory misuse of crime stats: http://is.gd/7KZDV #reasonsnottovotetory

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