Your comments, as usual, add much more to my thinking and description of my last post. So it seems like another post is needed to reply.
This event was probably some kid looking for some easy money. In other words , he was looking for unlocked cars and most cars contain a little change. He also got lucky and found an unlocked garage.
From your comments, I gather that crime is very different in other places. I had a couple of planters stolen but that's it. A few years ago somebody saw a kid going up my driveway at 1:00 AM. My security light scared him off. The kid walked across the street and found an unlocked car and got $8.75. How do I know? He got caught.
We are fortunate in this country to have fairly low levels of crime and the crime rate has been going down for years.
Now here come the stats!
Last year murder rates dropped in Canada to the lowest rate since 1966. We had 505 homicides in Canada in 2013. Now that's 505 too many. 25 % of these homicides were committed with guns.
The overall crime rate has been falling since 1969.
I cannot see why our government is foaming at the mouth about crime when the rate is going the right way. We try and keep people out of detention as much as possible as prisons are the best crime school in the country. Very few houses have guns in Canada. The crooks know there probably are no guns so they are not armed and as a result less murder and weapons involved in crime.
The drug world is completely different. They go after each other and they use guns.
So I feel like I live in a very safe country. Yes , there are places in my city that I would not go to at night, but overall I feel very safe.
The government, unfortunately, is completely driven by ideology over everything, and it really shows itself in their unrealistic justice policies. One of many, many reasons they must be voted out and left in the politicial wilderness for a couple of decades.
ReplyDeleteAnd I say that as a conservative who can't vote Conservative.
As a lefty I find what is going on disturbing. I am also open minded enough to realize that there are other options as long as they can be backed up with reason. Harper's ideas can not be backed up with reason.
DeleteI have several guns and I know how to use them. I am thinking about taking the permit to Carry Class...so I will be armed at all times. The bad guys seem to have their guns with them all the time. Drugs and the money needed to buy them is what drives most robberies in this area...and when someone is on Meth there isn't much that stops them.
ReplyDeleteYou are lucky that your crime rate is so low. :)
I would feel much more unsafe if I was carrying a gun. I would be a target.
DeleteIt's good to feel safe. I tend to live in rural areas so never feel threatened.
ReplyDeleteThere are many things that go to make us feel not threatened. Our own confidence goes a long way.
DeleteI like living where we live. I feel safe too. B
ReplyDeleteHey, your area is also very beautiful.
DeleteI rarely lock my homes. I laugh to come home and find a friend waiting indoors, he gives me a hard time if I would lock up.
ReplyDeleteWe do lock doors here.
DeleteI don't think the stats are exactly correct , but hey, papers are sold and the public like to read some good news - I personally think most printed news or TV or Internet news is brought to us by a certain Party, thinking a certain way. I have found through repeated news, that may or may not be true, some people eventually believe it. I trust the news reporters about as much as the government. When I compare Nursing Homes to Jails, I think I might prefer to be in Jail.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about bias in our media. These I believe to be valid stats taken from govt. records as in not Steven Harper's ideology.
DeleteI agree that I've seen some pathetic nursing homes.
Ah, William is right, as are you.
ReplyDeleteIt's the 'get tough on crime' stance that is supposed to please his Conservative base. My hubby voted for him in Calgary, he's sad about that now! This was back when. Hubby is a fiscal conservative. All this B.S. is ridiculous now.
I taught creative writing to min. security inmates, they'd done some drugs, were profoundly sorry, but their lives were ruined. They learned their lessons, but lost their jobs, left their families hanging, These are tough times.
Great post.
The sad part about these guys is that they dig a deep hole and it's pretty hard to get out of it.
DeleteI like your observation that prison is like a school for crime. I wish we thought that way here in the country south of Canada, which will remain nameless. :-)
ReplyDeleteIf you institutionalize someone they find it almost impossible to be successful when they get out of the institution.
Deletevery different from the texas way...
ReplyDeleteI may have had an unwelcome visitor, but I believe our system keeps us very safe.
DeleteI wish the USA was as safe a place to live as Canada.
ReplyDeleteWell, come on and move to Canada! My daughter lives in Chicago and finds that it's safe if you stay in the proper area.
DeleteYou are very right. We live in a country with very low crime. You can walk down most streets in Canada at any time of the day or night, and the chances of something happening to you are very minimal. We are so fortunate that it's mostly pretty peaceful here.
ReplyDeleteWe are indeed fortunate.
DeleteWell I guess you'll hear two totally opposite points of view from rural Minnesota Americans. A frightened Far Side living in the sparsely populated North contemplating a hand gun for protection and (me)one living in the agricultural small town south. There have been no murders in our county in over fifty years, most people don't lock their houses at night, or are afraid to be out. Yes there are high rates of crime in the cities and because of drugs which mostly we make worse by our inept policies....
ReplyDeleteThe drug situation here is a serious problem. I think there is some movement to sorting out priorities on what's serious and what's not. It's interesting that many states have legalized pot. That's not been done here.
DeleteThat is very nice to know. Once at my home, three years before, there were two kids who rang our bell saying they were thirsty. While my mom went to bring water, they stole the locks of our grill gate. And I got scolded for not watching :((
ReplyDeleteI'm fortunate in that. like you, the only type of crime that we have experienced is of the low level, opportunistic variety. We live in the country but use our common sense and keep our gate and garage doors locked and security light positioned on the access areas. The idea of owning a gun as a means of security absolutely horrifies me!
ReplyDeleteThings can happen anywhere, of course, but I wouldn't want to be living anywhere else. I love that we don't have a gun mentality in Canada. That can (and does) only lead to big trouble.
ReplyDeleteThey hysteria the current government displays about crime levels here is completely out of proportion to reality, as you point out! I'm with Hilary. I hope we never have that gun mentality here.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid we do have our share of crime in Hawaii. It's not as idyllic as people think. I do love Canada. I think you're lucky to live where guns are not as prevalent.
ReplyDeleteLiving on an Island in Scotland serious crime is almost unknown.
ReplyDelete