Another round of crime figures released by the Met show that crime in Croydon is falling, or is it?

There is a growing body of opinion who call into question police data. The figures released recently do not tell the whole story. Not by a long shot.

According to some, there is now an epidemic of unreported crime. The reason the crimes are unreported? Because lots of people cannot be bothered calling the police any more.

My car was recently broken into, a side window was smashed and one of the seats damaged - probably in frustration at the fact there was nothing to steal.

I did not bother to call anyone about this, but let me explain the reasons why. This is the fourth time one of my cars has been targeted by criminals.

I have had one stolen, radio and CD players taken and one set on fire.

On each of the previous occasions, police officers were naturally not very interested in the crimes - why should they be? They have enough on their plates filling in mountains of forms.

So when it happened again I could not be bothered contacting them, not even for the all-important insurance number. I wasn't going to claim for a broken window, so why should I tell the authorities? My experience is just one of many.

Shoplifting, credit card fraud, graffiti, the list of apparently low-level misdemeanours which does not get reported or treated as a police matter appears to be growing as the crime figures fall.

Sensible people will draw their own conclusions.

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