In a situation where the growing perception is that police are doing nothing to stop petty crimes, using police data on reports of petty crimes is a pretty bad

In a situation where the growing perception is that police are doing nothing to stop petty crimes, using police data on reports of petty crimes is a pretty bad way to check the truth or falsehood of that perception. The perception itself leads to less reporting of these kinds of crimes. I don't know what the truth of the matter is. When I traveled to the US a few months ago (from Australia) I was astonished by both how many people expressed increased fear of crime, but also, some of the warnings I got for things that were no longer safe to do. I was shocked by the warnings because many of them seemed so obvious. One woman in SF told us as part of her warning about crime and homelessness that we had better not leave expensive items like phones or laptops out on our car seats when we park. Sometimes I wonder if the bar in America for expectations of safety aren't set differently. That said, whether or not that's true has no bearing on whether or not things are getting worse or better. I'm just on a tangent I don't quite know how to pull back into my main point.