premise: Whilst high visibility crime such as night-time drunken disturbance has increased, total urban and rural crime, both reported and unreported, has fallen over the last two years, yet paradoxically people feel less safe, believing that the converse is the case. This fall in crime has coincided with a drop in the number of police officer on the street. A citizens fear of crime seems not to be a matter of reality at all- the visibility of law enforcement officials has a greater impact on their view of reality than hard facts.
hypothesis: Reducing the number of police officer has led to a reduction in crime.