"There are lies, damned lies and statistics," said Victorian Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli in what has become a well-worn phrase.

But nowhere does that seem truer than in Police statistics, both in Bermuda and elsewhere.

Re-categorising classes of crime, using different starting points for tracking trends and other wheezes can help anyone paint whatever picture for crime trends they want, regardless of the circumstances.

So it is understandable that Assistant Commissioner Paul Wright's assertion that overall crime rates have fallen in the last five years would be met with raised eyebrows.

Mr. Wright was quick to point out that this was not true for violent crime, and certainly the murder rate is higher than it has ever been.

But there is reason to think that the Police are getting better at what they do and, certainly the new leadership of the Service has gotten off to a good start.

Relations with the Government seem to be better than they have been for some time and there seems to be a new air of openness with the general public as well.

All of this is to the good. "Disruptive policing" means just that. It means that the Police are going to patrol known trouble spots and that there will be no no-go areas. A more assertive arrest and stop and search policy has also helped reduced crime and the jails are now filled to overflowing as a result.

Along with strong efforts from community groups, Government and others, there has been a noticeable drop in serious violent crime compared to the horrors of the pre-Christmas period.

But that does not mean that that kind of violence will not occur again and it is important to be sure that the Police are ready.

At the same time, it is still disappointing that many major crimes remain unsolved, and that charges have not been brought against suspects in these cases.

This, again, reflects a continued unwillingness among witnesses and people in a position to know what has happened to come forward.

There is no need to repeat all the reasons why people should come forward and why they don't. But it is sufficient to say that when people don't turn in people who have committed murders, then those people are free to kill again, and the next time it could be a friend or relative.

And it must be added that the Police can increase their presence in trouble spots and can utilise the crime intelligence they have as effectively as possible, but they cannot predict when someone will point a gun and pull a trigger.

It is, in the end, up to the whole community to make Bermuda safer. And it can be done.

Safer roads

If there was one genuine ray of light in the statistics, it was the steady decline in traffic collisions and a decline from 17 road deaths in 2008 to 13 in 2009.

Indeed, 2009 saw the fewest collisions in five years, as crashes dropped from 3,006 in 2007 to 2,195 in 2009, a drop of almost one third.

Nonetheless, Bermuda's roads remain unnecessarily dangerous. There is still an average of six collisions reported to the Police a day. That may be better than the nine or so in 2007, but it is still not good enough.

And it is a truism to say that one road death is too many, let alone 13, but true all the same. This is especially true when the vast majority of road deaths were completely avoidable.