ABSTRACT
The British Crime Survey (BCS), a market research approach based on 14000 interviews, logged 18 million acts of crime between 1993 and 1994 – a big difference from the Home Office Statistics for the same period. BCS found that only 41 % of the victims of crime had bothered to report it to the police. BCS found that the reasons for not reporting crime included: victims not wishing to see their insurance premiums increase; loss of no claims bonus; and the acceptance of higher levels of 'excess', the amount of a loss that must be met by the insured. As we look into the future, there is nothing that predicts or gives us reason to believe that, in the long run, crime rates will fall. The greater use of electronic devices such as burglar and car alarms will create fast track product development but will shift the emphasis of crime from one sector to another.
