Trump gets it wrong on crime in U.K.

President Trump on Friday blamed a surge in crime rates in the United Kingdom on the “spread” of “Islamic terror,” but he got it all wrong.

“Just out report: United Kingdom crime rises 13% annually amid spread of Radical Islamic terror.” Not good, we must keep America safe!” he tweeted.

There’s not only one problem with his assertion, there are many:

The report does not cover the United Kingdom. It only applies to England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland are not included (common mistake among non-Brits).

More substantially, the 13% rise is not specifically linked to Islam or terrorism. In fact, the increase is largely attributed to a surge in stalking and harassment (up 36% from June 2016 to June 2017) and sexual offenses (19%).

Overall, the report from Britain’s Office for National Statistics makes it clear that crime in England and Wales is falling long term despite year-to-year fluctuations. A decade ago, 24 in 100 adults were victims of crime. Today, it’s 14 in 100. In 1995, it was 40 in 100.

This fall continues despite an uptick in the number of highprofile terrorist attacks in Britain. As USA TODAY has previously reported, the number of attacks and deaths from terrorism in Western Europe is down significantly from 20 to 40 years ago, when political — rather than religious — extremism was the cause.

The sentence “United Kingdom crime rises 13% annually amid spread of Radical Islamic terror” does not feature in the report.

It was not immediately clear who Trump was quoting in his tweet.