Crime Rates in BC

     Crime rates in BC have been surprisingly low compared to previous years.  Crimes such as homicide, assault (both sexual and nonsexual), property related crime, weapon related crime, arson, and theft have all reduced in frequency, some, by quite a bit.  However, crimes such as drug use and distribution, and prostitution have all increased, some with surprising numbers.     
     So if violent crimes are rapidly decreasing in their probability, then why are we all so paranoid about being murdered or assaulted?  Part of it is a natural fear of having something horrific happening to us, but mostly it's because of the media.  News broadcasts over the radio and television all contain mostly crime-related stories, as well as the newspaper.  Crime is what interests people, so that's what the media wants to feed us.  For example, the headline "Woman Found Dead in Edmonton Alley" is a lot more interesting to us then the headline "Quebec Union Leader was Convicted Drug Producer".  We want to read about something exciting and that we can gossip about, not something that happens often.
     The drug bust that happened on September 27, 2010 was large-scale  but not that uncommon.  BC especially is home to many drug busts related to marijuana.  This drug bust, however, mostly consisted of cocaine and methamphetamine.  The drug bust was not a dangerous one (no one was injured) and was not uncommon either. 
      Being afraid of violent crimes and being over cautious is common in most people in North America, yet this is not necessary.  I'm not saying that it's not good to be cautious of crimes and that you shouldn't be fearful of anything because that would be stupid, but if you actually look at crime statistics and follow crime trends in BC and even Canada, you'll save yourself a lot of stress and paranoia.