Crime down nationwide

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Japan is safer now than it was in 2002, when crime hit a record high, according to a study.

The Japan Urban Security Research Institute calculated municipal crime figures by looking at the number of crimes per 1,000 people in 2006. It then drew up a colored map featuring seven different crime levels, with red indicating a high crime rate and green indicating a low crime rate.

Compared with a map based on figures for 2002, the map for 2006 has significantly fewer areas colored red, indicating fewer municipalities with a high crime rate.

The drop in crime apparently is a result of a series of security measures taken since 2002.

According to the National Police Agency, about 2.05 million crimes were reported across the country last year--a 28 percent decline from 2002, when 2.85 million cases were reported.

To discern the risk of becoming a victim of crimes such as theft and robbery, the Urban Security Research Institute calculated municipal crime rates based on daytime population figures and the number of crimes.

According to the study, crime declined in most municipalities.

The 2002 map shows many red areas in metropolitan areas, but the 2006 map features fewer red-colored places. In 2006, fewer than 10 percent of municipalities had crime rates exceeding 28.9 per 1,000 people.

Even though the trend in which urban areas have high crime rates and rural areas have low rates continued, rates in both areas dropped by about one-third.

Tokyo Metropolitan University Prof. Masahide Maeda, who participated in the study, said: "Security has improved almost equally across the nation, regardless of area, because police and local governments have been bolstering security measures since 2002. That's the major reason."

The NPA in 2002 instructed the Metropolitan Police Department and prefectural police forces to crack down on street crime, such as mugging and bicycle theft. The police started informing residents of crimes, while many residents began voluntary neighborhood patrols. As of June, there were 35,000 volunteer crime-prevention groups.

As a result, over the past four years bicycle thefts and thefts from cars have fallen by about 40 percent from nearly 1 million. Serious crime, such as murder and robbery, also dropped by 16 percent.

In Tokyo, the number of crimes reported for the year surpassed 300,000 for the first time in 2002. The MPD drew up a plan to restore public security to bring the number of cases down to the 1992 level within three years. The MPD more or less accomplished this goal by 2005.

The research institute plans to compile a report by the end of March and distribute it to local governments.

(Dec. 5, 2007)