>I can never figure this out. For the last four years we get monthly reports about crime and violence at the state and federal level. The statement is always the same: “Violent crime is down. Murder and rape have increased”! What does that really mean? It sure sounds rosy - “Violent crime is down”. It is apparent that murder and rape are not considered as violent. Perhaps they have a different category such as, “Expected or normal events”?
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>At the same time our Homeland Security alert status remains at Condition “Orange – elevated”, whatever that means?

Thomas, I must be missing something, for I do not see a contradiction in this, it is possible that "Armed robbery", "Assault causing bodily harm" and all other "violent crimes" (I "invented" the terms, not sure if is how they are called) are way up while only murder and rape went down, thus the overall category "violent crimes" went up.