Don't hide the figures!

THE EDITOR, Sir:

IN ALL free societies, information is something we take for granted. I am dismayed by the CCN declaring that they would not be issuing crime information statistics except on a quarterly basis. This is plain stupid and must be a 'knee-jerk' reaction to the 'bad press' we have been exposed to lately.

II believe that it serves no purpose to hide this information from the public. I could argue that it might be construed as 'hiding' something, giving rise to rumours with the self-fulfilling prophesy, "if it don't go so, it nearly so."

If the police are already using the information to do projections and look at trends (something that all major police departments in the world do as a matter of crime-fighting), then providing the public with the raw data does not create problems. If this is beyond them, no wonder crime is so high as they would have no clue as to what is happening around them.

I am etc.,

PETER WALKER

E-mail:

Newpw@aol.com

New York

Via Go-Jamaica

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