POLICE EVALUATE MEDIA'S IMPACT ON FEAR OF CRIME

Safer Streets Don't Ease Public's Victimization Worries

B.C. RCMP say they are re-thinking how they inform the media about
crimes because many people have unrealistic ideas about crime in
their communities.

An internal report prepared 18 months ago looks at why people are
increasingly afraid of being victims of crime, while actual crime
numbers are going down, Cpl. Tom Seaman said yesterday.

They found that this fear was related to what the public learned in
the media, he said.

News media can't access daily RCMP files and reporters learn of most
crimes through police announcements.

"We don't want to elevate the fear of crime when it's unnecessary to
do so," Seaman said.

"We wanted to ensure that we were giving solid messages . . . to
reassure the public of what the police were doing about any given situation."

This may involve holding back facts from the media in some cases
until more quality information is available, he said.

Seaman said the report is a discussion of the issue, not a decision,
and the B.C. RCMP have not changed any policies.

Years of research by academics, governments and independent agencies
show that the public feels more threatened by crime even while crime
rates fall, said Rob Gordon, director of the School of Criminology at
Simon Fraser University.

"It is a curious anomaly," Gordon said. "It is clear that the average
individual is getting their impressions about crime . . . from both
the news media and the entertainment media."

Entertainment media probably have a greater effect on individuals'
fears of crime than the news media, because they tend to be longer,
more sustained messages, he said.

Another factor is police crime-prevention programs, which have been
warning people for the past 15 to 20 years that they could be victims.

"[It's] a very sustained message being pumped out by police
departments and other organizations," Gordon said.

"That has created, ironically, an elevated fear of crime. We are much
more suspicious now."