KQED's Forum What's Behind the Great Crime Decline?
12 snips
Mar 17, 2026 Jeff Asher, crime data analyst who tracks city-level trends; Magnus Lofstrom, criminal justice policy director focused on California; Alex Piquero, criminology professor and former Bureau of Justice Statistics director. They explore long and short-term crime trends, city-by-city timing, policing and enforcement tactics, technology and data gaps, demographic and structural influences, and why pinpointing causes matters for policy.
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Fewer Officers Didn't Prevent Crime Declines
- Many departments lost officers after 2019 but crime declined nonetheless, so more officers alone don't explain recent drops.
- Jeff Asher advises focusing on efficient use of existing officers and alternative responses.
Targeted Enforcement Cuts Car Break Ins
- Use targeted enforcement tactics to reduce specific nuisance crimes like car break-ins.
- Magnus Lofstrom cites San Francisco bait-car operations and added patrols that cut monthly reported car break-ins from ~2,000 to ~500–600.
Caller Connects Baby Boom To 1960s Crime Peak
- A San Jose caller pointed to the baby boom cohort as a historical cause of crime peaks when they were young.
- Alex Piquero agreed age structure correlates with crime and noted similar patterns worldwide.