By arthur Weinreb
Friday, June 10, 2005a few weeks ago the National Post began a new feature in its Toronto section of the newspaper called, "Police blotter: This week in crime". Every Monday, a summary of 40 to 50 crimes that were committed or solved within the previous week are listed, together with a brief description of each occurrence. an entire page is devoted to this feature which includes a map of Toronto showing the approximately location of where each of the incidents took place.
Most of these offences, while classified by the Toronto police as "major occurrences", are not the type of items that would normally be reported by the media. The items that are set out in the Post typically consist of muggings, purse snatches, robberies and break and enters. Does the listing of these crimes achieve any purpose or do they do more harm than good?
Many community newspapers do the same thing for incidents that occur in their neighbourhoods, although these papers devote proportionately less space to crime than does the National Post. Putting item such as a home was broken into on such and such a street probably does more harm than good. It has the effect of worrying those who live close to where the offence took place. and in neighbourhood publications, that is never too far away. People, especially the elderly, are frightened if they read about a crime happening on the next street over even though that fact does not make their victimization any more likely. The fact that the National Post includes a map of the city with numbers that indicate the approximate location of each occurrence is bound to make at least some its readers more anxious about their safety.
although there are downsides to publishing a list of swarmings, robberies and break ins on a weekly basis, the good outweighs the bad. It gives people an opportunity to learn, for example, if purse snatchings or muggings happen to be common in their area. as most of these types of crimes and others go unreported in the media it allows people to be more vigilant. and it gives the reader a better feel for serious offences being committed in their city than relying on the reporting of just the most serious offences.
Perhaps most important is that the National Post’s weekly police blotter report gives people the opportunity to see what is going on at a time when the police chief and politicians love to minimize violent crime and rely on the fact that crime statistics are down. Let’s hope the National Post keeps this feature up.