Passage Summary: Police records say crime is up, but when you ask regular people, they report fewer crimes happening overall than they did twenty years ago.

Reasoning: Official police records show that the crime rate per 100,000 people has increased, yet citizen surveys suggest the total number of crimes has actually decreased over the same period.

Analysis: We are looking for a way to make these two seemingly contradictory facts coexist. The discrepancy might involve the difference between 'reported' crime and 'actual' crime, or perhaps a shift in population size that affects the 'per 100,000' calculation. If people are much more likely to report crimes to the police now than they were in the past, the official records would rise even if the actual number of crimes fell. Look for an answer that explains why police data and citizen perceptions would move in opposite directions.