''The Truth About Crime'' is a British television documentary series inspired and presented by
Nick Ross
Nicholas David Ross (born 7 August 1947) is a British radio and television presenter. During the 1980s and 1990s he was one of the most ubiquitous of British broadcasters but is best known for hosting the BBC TV programme ''Crimewatch'', whic ...
in association with the film-maker
Roger Graef
Roger Arthur Graef OBE (18 April 1936 – 2 March 2022) was an American-born British documentary filmmaker and theatre director. Born in New York City, he moved to Britain in 1962, where he began a career producing documentary films investiga ...
, executive producer Sam Collyns and series producer Alice Perman. It was first broadcast on
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
in July and August 2009.
Region
The show focused on a single city,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, which has demographics and crime rates broadly representative of urban Britain, and used a multitude of techniques to measure the real extent of crime and victimisation. In a two-week crime
audit
An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon.” Auditing ...
, camera teams followed police, fire services and paramedics and an on-line questionnaire, based closely on the national
British Crime Survey
The Crime Survey for England and Wales (previously called the British Crime Survey) is a systematic victim study, currently carried out by Kantar Public (formally known as BMRB Ltd) on behalf of the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Curated by ...
, invited residents and businesspeople to describe their personal experiences of victimisation. A survey of 14- and 15-year-olds in Oxford schools was one of the biggest of its kind ever undertaken to discover how under-16s are affected by, and involved in, crime. Random children from some of the schools were then chosen to take part in the series being quizzed on crime by Ross on such topics as theft, drugs, alcohol and many other things.
Programme 1
The first programme (
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
9pm Tuesday 21 July 2009) looked at violent crime and revealed that almost all woundings involved victims who had been drinking or who had been assaulted by someone who was drunk, and took place close to a
licensed premise.
Lack of commensuration with official statistics
Most of the seriously injured, as measured by those treated in hospital, did not report what had happened to the police. One senior physician told Nick Ross that police figures on crime are virtually "meaningless". The physician interviewed was Jonathan Shepherd, a Professor of
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the
Cardiff University Dental School.
Domestic violence
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...
was shown to be a major problem, though mostly resulting only in minor injuries, and with women as perpetrators as well as men. Women were interviewed in a
Women's shelter
A women's shelter, also known as a women's refuge and battered women's shelter, is a place of temporary protection and support for women escaping domestic violence and intimate partner violence of all forms. The term is also frequently used to ...
.
Crime mapping
Helmet camera
A helmet camera, otherwise known as a micro video camera, is an action camera, usually a closed circuit television camera, attached to a helmet allowing someone to make a visual record from their point of view ( POV), while keeping their hands and ...
s were shown and Spencer Chainey of the
Jill Dando Institute at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
described
crime mapping
Crime mapping is used by analysts in law enforcement agencies to map, visualize, and analyze crime incident patterns. It is a key component of crime analysis and the CompStat policing strategy. Mapping crime, using Geographic Information Systems ...
, which uses
geographic information system
A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing Geographic data and information, geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with Geographic information system software, sof ...
s.
Alcohol-fuelled violence
A
licensing officer from Thames Valley Police, a
Hook Norton Brewery
Hook Norton Brewery is a regional brewery in Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, England, several miles outside the Cotswold Hills. Founded in 1849, the brewing plant is a traditional Victorian 'tower' brewery in which all the stages of the brewing pr ...
executive and
David Poley, the Chief Executive of the
Portman Group
The Portman Group is a trade group composed of alcoholic beverage producers and brewers in the UK.
History
It was set up in 1989 as part of a campaign to raise awareness on alcohol-related issues, and its members account for the majority of a ...
, were interviewed. Ross went on to describe several interventions which had cut
alcohol-related violence in the UK and elsewhere and urged a more pro-active approach to tackling alcohol-related violence. For most of the incidents, there were few arrests featured.
Programme 2
The second in the series (Tuesday 28 July) explored the nature of acquisitive crime and proposed solutions to burglary, car theft and fraud. Ross implied that society needs to accept human nature for what it is and focus less on how to penalise criminals and more on taking sensible precautions with tempting valuables. Temptation and opportunity drives crime far more than "badness". 90% of burglaries are to fuel a drug habit. A 19-year-old
single mother
A single parent is a person who has a child or children but does not have a spouse or live-in partner to assist in the upbringing or support of the child. Reasons for becoming a single parent include divorce, break-up, abandonment, becoming wid ...
, Kelly, burgled some students, who were meanwhile happily enjoying themselves in a pub, to fund her heroin habit. A policeman said that this type of crime is committed by people who find themselves in social and emotional situations from which they find it difficult to get out of.
Shoplifting
There are around fifty persistent burglars in Oxford. Some of them would commit up to twenty burglaries a week. A shoplifter who was caught by CCTV in a shop, stealing a £10 set of headphones, turned out to be a 19-year-old Polish immigrant who possessed no ID. Nick Ross even confessed to
shoplifting
Shoplifting is the theft of goods from an open retail establishment, typically by concealing a store item on one's person, in pockets, under clothes or in a bag, and leaving the store without paying. With clothing, shoplifters may put on items ...
occasionally when a teenager, as did school pupils interviewed. During a normal weekday, shoplifting peaks at 3.30pm when school ends.
Distraction burglary and scams
Distraction
burglary
Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder ...
is different to more common random burglary, and is rarer but often more upsetting because it involves more dedicated and skilful
felon
A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...
s. The ruthless individuals perpetrating this crime usually target properties around the edge of Oxford near the ring road, and tend to come from outside the area. Household scams, of a ruthless and targeted similar nature, usually involved elderly people who would be cajoled into paying astronomical prices for unnecessary repair work done on their property. The rogue traders involved were difficult to trace by county council
Trading Standards
Trading Standards are the local authority departments with the United Kingdom, formerly known as ''Weights and Measures'', that enforce consumer protection legislation.
Sometimes, the Trading Standards enforcement functions of a local authority a ...
officers. An elderly couple were conned into paying for minor repairs with their entire life savings.
Online scams were more prevalent than perhaps realised, with up to £20bn of online fraud committed a year. It was investigated by the
e-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...
unit of
SOCA. Richard Cox of
The Spamhaus Project
The Spamhaus Project is an international organisation based in the Principality of Andorra, founded in 1998 by Steve Linford to track email spammers and spam-related activity. The name ''spamhaus'', a pseudo-German expression, was coined by Lin ...
was interviewed about
internet crime
A cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network.Moore, R. (2005) "Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime," Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing. The computer may have been used in committing the ...
.
Rehabilitation
The police thought that prison was the best place for persistent burglars. It kept the burglars off the streets. Prison was not viewed as a deterrent because the persistent offenders live such types of lives that they would be better looked after in prison than on the streets, with regular meals and companionship. Once they left prison they would quickly reoffend.
Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation or Rehab may refer to:
Health
* Rehabilitation (neuropsychology), therapy to regain or improve neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished
* Rehabilitation (wildlife), treatment of injured wildlife so they can be retur ...
centres for repeat offenders and
drug addicts
Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use of ...
were not successful because the offenders were not of a capable mental state to be sufficiently receptive or adaptive to the treatments given
Prevention not cure
Some of the crimes, especially rare ones targeting the elderly, are committed by lifestyle criminals, but most offenders are un-glamorously ordinary and few are "ogres" even in the eyes of the police. Most solutions lie in better design and sensible precautions. Since crime peaked in the 1990s homeowners have halved burglary rates by locking their doors and windows, retailers and tackled shoplifting by guarding their open shelves with security devices, and vehicle manufacturers have made cars so difficult to steal that auto-crime is now largely confined to old bangers.
Programme 3
The third and final show (Tuesday 4 August) exposed widespread
anti-social behaviour
Antisocial behavior is a behavior that is defined as the violation of the rights of others by committing crime, such as stealing and physical attack in addition to other behaviors such as lying and manipulation. It is considered to be disrupti ...
and the lack of a concerted response. Much of anti-social crime is not added to the official crime statistics. Much of it is fuelled by drugs and
gang culture
A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collective ...
of under-educated and employed young males under the acronym
NEET
NEET, an acronym for "Not in Education, Employment, or Training", refers to a person who is unemployed and not receiving an education or vocational training. The classification originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1990s, and its use has ...
. The
chief constable of
Thames Valley Police
Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
It the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, covering a ...
,
Sara Thornton, was interviewed. It was found that improved styles of architecture for
estate housing and
lit thoroughfares can reduce anti-social crime significantly.
Perspective on crime statistics
Ross's general thesis is that recorded crime rates are unreliable, that theft and violence have actually declined sharply but that the downward trend may not be continuing, and that there are hundreds of quite simple solutions to crime, mostly by reducing temptations and opportunities for bad behaviour rather than trying to remould people's predispositions.
Reception
The series has been well received, with ''The Times''
[http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article6730705.ece Andrew Billen, The Times, 29 July 2009, T2 page 14] "fascinated
y thesane, insightful and compellingly argued documentary series" – and achieved good ratings despite being scheduled against
ITV1
ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...
's fast-moving, similarly themed ''Car Crime UK'', a six-part police car-chasing documentary series narrated by
Trevor McDonald
Sir Trevor McDonald (born George McDonald; 16 August 1939) is a Trinidadian- British newsreader and journalist, best known for his career as a news presenter with ITN.
McDonald was knighted in 1999 for his services to journalism.
Career ...
.
References
External links
*
''Oxford Mail'' July 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Truth About Crime, The
BBC television documentaries
British crime television series
Law enforcement in the United Kingdom
2009 British television series debuts
2009 British television series endings
Geographic information systems
Violence in the United Kingdom