Fear of crime looms large for U.S. voters: NYT

NEW YORK, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Though polls show that U.S. voters' biggest concerns are about the economy and inflation, many Americans, especially more conservative voters, as well as moderates and liberals, say they are gripped by worries over crime and disorder, reported The New York Times (NYT) on Thursday.

"Even though national crime trends are mixed, these voters have seen reports of homicide spikes in places like Memphis, Milwaukee, Albuquerque and Jacksonville, Fla., and have heard from friends and neighbors who have been victims of car thefts or muggings," said the report.

In many cases, their anxieties stem not from experiencing serious crime, but from seeing homeless encampments, or finding a syringe or human waste on the sidewalk, or reading accounts in their neighborhood social networks of vandalism on a local bike path, noted the report.

"While the perception of a crime wave is broadly shared, the reality this year is especially hard to pin down," it said.

Because of a change in the way the Federal Bureau of Investigation is compiling and tracking national crime statistics, more than a third of the nation's law enforcement agencies, including those in some of the biggest U.S. cities, did not submit crime data to the FBI's statistics collection program for 2021, it added.