Crime rate isn't going up, as some are saying

To the editor:

The Speak Out caller who said juvenile crime is on the rise locally and nationally is just plain wrong. Crime in general, including juvenile crime, has been decreasing for nearly 10 years now, both here and across the nation. Every single report from the FBI and other crime-fighting agencies has revealed that decrease. But whenever a politician wants to sound tough and stir up folks in order to look good and get votes, he announces a crackdown on "the rising crime rate." The politicians who do this are demagogues wanting another turn at the public trough at the expense of honesty.

JOE JACKSON

Frohna, Mo.