>I think this is yer basic correlation/causation confusion, maybe
>even estimating a negative identity. As our society only recognizes
>crime (outside the civil sphere at any rate) as a crime if it is
>identified and reported as such by the police, lower numbers of
>police will, in almost all cases, lead to less crime being reported.
Not necessarily. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics does an annual victimization survey, which asks people whether they were crime victims (excepting murder, where there's a response issue).
Doug