Antisocial behaviour on the railway network

[Brush 4]

Agree with most of the above. Mostly though, I find that the majority are so engrossed in their phones that silence reigns. Windows are largely redundant now. I suggest that future units are built with 3 out of 4 carriages just windowless boxes. The 4th has windows and gadget users are banned, leaving it free for those of us who still live in the moment. look out of the windows ( at a tree tunnel probably!) and know where they are at any point on the journey. (those in the box carriages will hear the many, many announcements about station stops or, won't because they are so mesmerised by their stupid phones........good)

 

[generalnerd]

no doubt I'll be pilloried for saying this but in the past there was no 'mental illness' card to fall back on which seems to be a general modern excuse for deliberately behaving badly along with poor parenting and appalling education levels, if there are no rules being set then what else can happen than other than increasingly bad behaviour?

I think you do find this, but more with neurological ‘disorders’ such as ADHD. As of late parents who have rowdy children (I’m talking rude and loud rowdy, when they are often doing it to get a reaction or are just being plain rude) and the parents will just shrug it off when challenged by other passengers or the guard.

As somebody who does have autism (and I understand that other people have different needs) I often see it as being an excuse as to not parent your child.

I find this behaviour less frequent locally, but when you go to any larger cities it becomes more prevalent (likely because most families where I’m from drive) but when it does happen locally it does grind my gears.

I also think there is less education where I’m from (and that goes for all forms of rail and transport related topics) as we only have a few lines meaning that trespass incidents locally are apparently quite high, but that’s not totally related to the main topic (although one could argue that trespassing is antisocial behaviour.

 

[Coolzac]

I am on the younger side of middle aged. From what I can remember I don't think antisocial behavior has got worse, I think it has just evolved.

I also think that everyone believes it's getting worse because we all see more of it indirectly through social media. If we actually recall the incidents we have seen in person, I don't think they will be an less or more than 20 years ago or 50 years ago.

Social media can give the appearance of things 'going to the dogs' but I believe that humans will always be a mixture, mostly good, and the odd bad egg.

 

[Deepgreen]

Being drunk does not constitute an excuse for anti-social behaviour.

No, but it's usually a reason.

I am on the younger side of middle aged. From what I can remember I don't think antisocial behavior has got worse, I think it has just evolved.

I also think that everyone believes it's getting worse because we all see more of it indirectly through social media. If we actually recall the incidents we have seen in person, I don't think they will be an less or more than 20 years ago or 50 years ago.

Social media can give the appearance of things 'going to the dogs' but I believe that humans will always be a mixture, mostly good, and the odd bad egg.

Well, I am positive it is far worse - in my younger days feet on seats was a rare thing and was pounced on quickly. Music wasn't played out loud (and mini radios existed so it could have been done!). People looked where they were going and didn't need instructions on how to do every little thing. Rudeness to staff was far less, etc. Violent incidents or threats were far rarer, and it was also rare for those that did occur to involve knives.

 

[Bikeman78]

As I pointed out on the last anti-social behaviour thread, I wonder if anyone who gets annoyed by the behaviour of others on trains has come across the "let them" theory that's been attracting attention of late? Essential the principle is that, rather than choosing to get angry, you simply let other people behave however they like and don't let it get to you.

I went for a trip to Treherbert on 150229 on it's penultimate day in service. It could only be described as a zoo at feeding time. There must have been 30 rowdy teenagers on there generally making a lot of noise and running around. They weren't actually doing anything particularly bad. Over the years, I have discovered that I am largely invisible to society in general. I recall Lucy Porter describing it as a superpower, invisible to d***heads! I sat there quietly in the midst of it all and they completely ignored me.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Agree with most of the above. Mostly though, I find that the majority are so engrossed in their phones that silence reigns.

I don't find this any more - more likely people are engrossed in their phones with the sound on.

 

[yorkie]

The short answer is yes - steadily and inexorably, mirroring the rest of society.

Do you have any actual evidence for this?

It is a common perception among most generations through the ages that crime is getting worse from one generation to the next.

This perception persists when there is no evidence for it being true, or even when the reverse is true.

Greater London Crime and Safety Statistics | CrimeRate

How dangerous is Greater London and how does it compare to other counties in London? If you are searching for crime statistics in London, you must read our report.

crimerate.co.uk

The 10-year trend indicates a decrease of 63 points in London's crime risk score. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, analysis should include further checks as above.

This myth isn't recent or confined to the UK; it is an extremely long-standing, worldwide phenomenon.

Kids and Crime: Is the next generation really that bad?

One of the consistent themes in society is older generations believe the newest generation is the worst behaved.

okcfox.com

One of the consistent themes in society is older generations believe the newest generation is the worst behaved.

Some of this bad behavior is believed to include criminal activity.

Every generation has been ‘doomed’ — yet we’re still here

Each generation has remarkable differences and unique characterizations, but the one thing that hasn’t changed is the tendency for those generations to critique each other.

www.deseret.com

In a 2019 study, Protzko and Schooler theorize that no, society has not been on a steady decline with the turn of every generation, and this denigration of the younger generation from their older counterparts is a result of faulty memory and bias projecting.

I do wonder if it's possibly made even worse in the modern era by increased reporting and also social media hysteria.

 

[Bletchleyite]

No, but it's usually a reason.

It's an explanation, but it isn't an acceptable one. In no circumstances at all, regardless of the gravity of the offence committed (and playing rubbish out loud on your phone to the annoyance of others IS an offence on the railway), should alcohol consumption be a mitigation. If you can't control your behaviour when drunk, don't drink.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Plenty of anti social behaviour on public transport back in the day - and local newspaper files can validate that. The 1970's on local trains in the South East (despite more staffed stations and trains with guards) , one recalls comprehensively trashed trains with heavy vandalism and even kicked in ceiling panels.

But then , in the early 1950's there were concerns about "cosh gangs" - assulting and terrorising passengers on South London trams.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Speaking as an old git I'm not actually sure whether society is that much different than in the past, in my view the main culprit for the apparent increase is social media, people behaved like thugs in the 70s for instance but there was no way of knowing other than through personal experience or via the media when large incidents occurred such as Bank Holiday punch ups and football riots, nowadays it's reported everywhere instantly, does that simply mean we know about it and assume it's worse?

It's true that we hear about things much more quickly thanks to social media, but I don't think it's just that. Just from personal anecdotal experience, my impression is that I see much more anti-social behaviour when out and about and using public transport than I remember being the case 20-30 years ago, so I do suspect the level has gone up.

no doubt I'll be pilloried for saying this but in the past there was no 'mental illness' card to fall back on which seems to be a general modern excuse for deliberately behaving badly along with poor parenting and appalling education levels, if there are no rules being set then what else can happen than other than increasingly bad behaviour?

I agree with you here. In some ways it is good that mental health issues have become more recognised and something that people can talk about more without social stigma, but the other side to that is that people are much more ready to use it as an excuse for simply not taking responsibility for their behaviour.

 

[John Luxton]

Anti-social behaviour is not just abusiveness, rowdiness, etc., but basic stuff like feet on seats, music playing, loud phone calls and so on, which have become accepted by a sector of society as being OK and normal. There is probably a large element of age difference involved, but it seems that people are just getting less and less self-aware.


Sorry - how? In what context? Do you mean you drive trains or road vehicles?

The loud speaker phone - phone calls are annoying and I suppose constitute antisocial behaviour. If anyone phones me on a train I tell them to call back later or I will phone them I don't want to discuss my life etc in public. Last year I was on a Liverpool Central bound train around Birkenhead North when some chap sat nearby by rings up his bank with speaker phone switched on giving personal details. Obviously he had no situational awareness as not only was the phone lound he was too. Became even louder when the signal dropped entering the underground section and then realised he had been cut off mid transaction!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

It is neither worse nor better. What "it" is changes with society - you see fewer people having a crafty ciggie these days but more people playing stupid things out loud on thier phones

On the subject of people playing stuff on their phones out loud, I had an experience a few months ago which possibly illustrates people's different attitudes. I got on an extremely crowded late night train with a (much younger) friend. Arising out of our conversation, the friend wanted to show me a video, so she promptly got her phone out, put it on speaker and started playing the video for me. I felt so embarrassed, immediately thinking, that must be so annoying for the people around, so I quickly found an excuse to say we should watch it later. But the thing is, this friend is one of the last people you'd expect to deliberately behave anti-socially. She's very religious, generally very thoughtful of other people and very honest etc. She won't even tolerate swearing. Yet she appears to see nothing wrong with playing videos out loud on a train with other people sitting around, something that to me seems totally inconsiderate. I've never got round to asking her about it, but I can only speculate that maybe it reflects a generational shift in cultural attitudes?

 

[deltic]

Plenty of anti social behaviour on public transport back in the day - and local newspaper files can validate that. The 1970's on local trains in the South East (despite more staffed stations and trains with guards) , one recalls comprehensively trashed trains with heavy vandalism and even kicked in ceiling panels.

But then , in the early 1950's there were concerns about "cosh gangs" - assulting and terrorising passengers on South London trams.

I remember travelling around the Southern Region and seeing literally 100s of seat cushions lining the route, thrown out of trains. While in Manchester I have seen the old light bulbs been thrown out of trains at people walking along an adjacent road.

 

[Bikeman78]

I remember travelling around the Southern Region and seeing literally 100s of seat cushions lining the route, thrown out of trains. While in Manchester I have seen the old light bulbs been thrown out of trains at people walking along an adjacent road.

In my lifetime, the late 1990s was the low point. The compartments were trashed. Network Southcentral, and then Connex, made little attempt to repair the damage.

 

[jammmmmsssssss]

maybe it reflects a generational shift in cultural attitudes?

I do see that a bit but I'm a teenager and most people I know wouldn't want to disturb anyone in public (especially on public transport). Video sharing can wait until you get off

 

[MP33]

The BBC had a documentary in the 1970s about a woman whose late husband was a Policeman. Her husband always said that, despite talk about greater lawlessness. He had not noticed a difference.

She investigated and from the 1950s to the 1970s, there was no social media to report things. However, there were more telephones in homes.

 

[PyrahnaRanger]

Some of these auditors are out there looking for trouble and confrontation because it’s good content for them and gets views on social media which means money in their pocket.

They don’t care about the consequences for staff and others passengers around them.

And some people who should know better go out of their way to help them get it. There's one absolute tool who flies a drone over police stations, waits for a copper to tell him to stop, then has an argument about he's allowed to do it (technically correct) and films the ensuing argument, baiting the police to try and (wrongly) arrest him. His latest target was an SWR depot, and the staff there didn't get portrayed well.

 

[jon0844]

A mix really.

I think it just mirrors the increasing disrespect in wider society in the UK. Convenience stores having to employ security guards, staff in pubs, retail, paramedics wearing bodycams, riots spread through TikTok, etc. The rail network isn't anything special in this regard.

I do also think it needs to be born in mind that social media and everything being videoed makes crime more visible. Our village Facebook group today had a post up about somebody littering from their car window. This isn't new, it happened decades ago in the village, but there wasn't a Facebook group in the 1990s and someone would just begrudgingly clean it up and at best gossip about it at the pub, but certainly not broadcast it to a thousand or so people.

These "auditors" and grade A weapons though. People need to follow the NPSA guidance on dealing with them. https://www.npsa.gov.uk/social-media-auditors.

The TLDR is you should acknowledge their presence and allude to discovering their presence due to your CCTV/security, be polite, don't try and stop them filming or get into protracted discussions with them, then walk away. Appreciate you can't so easily do this when you're a ticket inspector trying to get them to buy a new ticket, but if they're just hanging around filming random stuff, leave them to it - they won't get any confrontation, which is the content they want, so they'll eventually leave and not bother to upload the footage because nobody genuinely wants to see half an hour of standing outside the gates to a train depot with nothing happening. Even the geekiest of train geeks wouldn't watch that, and the "auditors" know it. They also know that if they upload videos to their social media channels which don't generate engagement, they'll be demoted in the algorithms which dictate who gets to see their content, and in turn, how much money they make from it all.

Auditors are now being jailed in the USA for trespassing and causing other disturbances, so maybe we'll see that happen here. Of course they'll go insane saying they have rights, but they really do goad people and get into their faces/personal space to create content by getting reactions.

One thing some people do in the USA I've noticed is start playing music on their phone, because it's hard to edit out music if they want to capture the speech interactions - and if they don't cut the music then YouTube will demonetise the content. At the end of the day, as the above article says, they're only doing it to get content to make money from (and many have Gofundme-type donations from their fans who pay them to travel all over to get more content).

It's good to see proper guidance on how to interact with these ghouls. If they actually cared about the police and others, fair enough, but they are only there to provoke. Nobody watches the videos where everything is normal.

Anti social behaviour has always existed, but social media actively encourages it a lot of the time as there's money to be made - as well as gaining followers that gives you clout to ask for money/donations and also get products/services to try and become an influencer. Not that I'd imagine many auditors are going to be attracting a brand with any sense.

I don't think it is any worse than in the past, you don't hear as much about muggings and gangs steaming through trains as a few decades ago.

People carry less money now, so I suppose they've moved on to illegal e-motorcycles stealing your phone on a road where they can make a clean getaway.

If they're "auditors" - leave them to it also.

They aren't there to do anything other than get content, so they'll just push and push until you have no choice but to say something. They'll be going where they shouldn't or getting into someone's face. They rely on the fact they can edit their footage and add their own narration/captions to set whatever narrative they want. Staff may have a body cam but they can't just post that to counter the accusations and show what they did before they posted the clip on YouTube, so it will always end badly.

It's possible if you totally ignore them, they'll get bored and go - but is that really going to happen? They're just going to demand answers to questions as 'you work for me' and if you ignore them, that in itself is content as you're obviously hiding something.

This is why, thankfully, as they get more aggressive to get content they are being arrested and sent to court in the USA and I think that will start happening here too. In court, the real footage can be shown and they will be less likely to twist the facts under oath.

 

[bramling]

And some people who should know better go out of their way to help them get it. There's one absolute tool who flies a drone over police stations, waits for a copper to tell him to stop, then has an argument about he's allowed to do it (technically correct) and films the ensuing argument, baiting the police to try and (wrongly) arrest him. His latest target was an SWR depot, and the staff there didn't get portrayed well.

It’s normally 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. I saw an exchange recently where someone was taking photos outside a factory or something.

Having established that this was a public space, the security guard then changed tack to say “I don’t like being photographed”, to which the reply was “well why did you come out here and stand in front of my camera then?”.

Yes these auditors are intent on a degree of trouble, but I kind of sympathise with the concept of checking people going beyond their remit of their authority. I’m sure as railway enthusiasts many here will have been on the receiving end of that.

 

[styles]

They aren't there to do anything other than get content, so they'll just push and push until you have no choice but to say something. They'll be going where they shouldn't or getting into someone's face. They rely on the fact they can edit their footage and add their own narration/captions to set whatever narrative they want. Staff may have a body cam but they can't just post that to counter the accusations and show what they did before they posted the clip on YouTube, so it will always end badly.

It's possible if you totally ignore them, they'll get bored and go - but is that really going to happen? They're just going to demand answers to questions as 'you work for me' and if you ignore them, that in itself is content as you're obviously hiding something.

This is why, thankfully, as they get more aggressive to get content they are being arrested and sent to court in the USA and I think that will start happening here too. In court, the real footage can be shown and they will be less likely to twist the facts under oath.

There's no need to engage with them at all.

If they come onto private land you can ask them to leave but be polite and say you don't mind them filming from the public land then just go back inside and leave them to it. Keep it as short an interaction as possible. If they try and engage you further just say sorry you're really busy today, then walk away.

Their footage will be incredibly dull if they don't interact with anybody, and it won't even get published.

We had one of these outside our London office. They came in to tell us they were going to be outside filming and taking a drone over. Security said ok, just keep to the public land, thanks for the heads up. No video has even been uploaded.

 

[bramling]

There's no need to engage with them at all.

If they come onto private land you can ask them to leave but be polite and say you don't mind them filming from the public land then just go back inside and leave them to it. Keep it as short an interaction as possible. If they try and engage you further just say sorry you're really busy today, then walk away.

Their footage will be incredibly dull if they don't interact with anybody, and it won't even get published.

We had one of these outside our London office. They came in to tell us they were going to be outside filming and taking a drone over. Security said ok, just keep to the public land, thanks for the heads up. No video has even been uploaded.

100%.

It’s only an issue when people start acting outside of their authority - i.e. “I don’t want you filming this” when the auditor is in a perfectly legitimate public location.

As you say, if the security types just respond with “that’s fine, just please make sure you don’t trespass” then there’s nothing to see here.

 

[43066]

It’s normally 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. I saw an exchange recently where someone was taking photos outside a factory or something.

Having established that this was a public space, the security guard then changed tack to say “I don’t like being photographed”, to which the reply was “well why did you come out here and stand in front of my camera then?”.

Yes these auditors are intent on a degree of trouble, but I kind of sympathise with the concept of checking people going beyond their remit of their authority. I’m sure as railway enthusiasts many here will have been on the receiving end of that.

I agree. I was anti and then having watched a few videos have begun to sympathise with where they’re coming from. Some are better than others.

The best thing is simply to keep engagement to an absolute minimum. In a railway context someone filming trains coming and going is par for the course. They can of course be asked to leave and must do so - hence they tend not to target railway property, at least in terms of stations (the videos on depots are a different matter, but are invariably filmed from the entrance, and/or flying drones overhead).

 

[Pigeon]

one of those auditor channels (they basically go around filming and make content out of being told they cannot film)

I hadn't heard of these, but it is obviously a retrograde step if people who go round deliberately making a pain in the arse of themselves can now get money for it instead of maybe a clip round the lug'ole from the local bobby. The origin of this possibility is of course with internet advertising, and is one reason why everyone should install effective ad blockers and tracker blockers and generally try to throw as many spanners in the works of the advertising industry as possible.

 

[bramling]

I agree. I was anti and then having watched a few videos have begun to sympathise with where they’re coming from. Some are better than others.

The best thing is simply to keep engagement to an absolute minimum. In a railway context someone filming trains coming and going is par for the course. They can of course be asked to leave and must do so - hence they tend not to target railway property, at least in terms of stations (the videos on depots are a different matter, but are invariably filmed from the entrance, and/or flying drones overhead).

What I don't really understand is why people get into exchanges.

The railway is different because it's private property, but even there I've never understood why staff want to cause themselves aggro when they don't need to - obviously completely different if the person is doing something which is actually causing a problem.

But why someone wants to come out of something like a factory and interfere with someone who is in a public space and doing something totally legal, is completely beyond me. One can only assume there's an element of ego and self-importance in play.

I had an incident some years ago when I was taking a before/after photo and was harassed by some kind of security from a factory. After explaining what I was doing (which I did as a gesture of goodwill, not because I should have to) one would expect that to be the end of the matter, but it wasn't. In the end I just told him to do one, and rather sarcastically made the point that somewhere making pies is hardly the most important place in the world.

 

[styles]

What I don't really understand is why people get into exchanges.

The railway is different because it's private property, but even there I've never understood why staff want to cause themselves aggro when they don't need to - obviously completely different if the person is doing something which is actually causing a problem.

But why someone wants to come out of something like a factory and interfere with someone who is in a public space and doing something totally legal, is completely beyond me. One can only assume there's an element of ego and self-importance in play.

I had an incident some years ago when I was taking a before/after photo and was harassed by some kind of security from a factory. After explaining what I was doing (which I did as a gesture of goodwill, not because I should have to) one would expect that to be the end of the matter, but it wasn't. In the end I just told him to do one, and rather sarcastically made the point that somewhere making pies is hardly the most important place in the world.

I think it's a few different things really..

• Security fear - people could be casing the joint to do in later on. Realistically someone doing a recon isn't going to go equipped with a GoPro strapped to their chest and a zoom camera and make it very obvious they're filming.
• Privacy - workers quite fairly don't want to be filmed just doing their job. With police etc you may argue there's a public interest or something, but not your typical yard worker.
• Misguided view of the law - an awful lot of people simply don't understand that in the vast majority of cases, filming private property from public property isn't unlawful; or that private property refers generally to land, not the airspace above it, meaning flying a drone over at a reasonable height isn't trespass (civil or criminal). Also many people seem to think that trespass is a criminal matter, when again, most of the time it isn't. So security who see someone doing something they think is unlawful will go out and challenge, maybe even call the police, only to find out it was lawful.

There are actually some ways in which the auditor's might break the law. For example if their trespass obstructs/prevents people undertaking lawful activities, this may be aggravated trespass. There is also the possibility of obstructing a police constable in their duties (and there was an auditor guy from Crewe convicted of this recently). There are some cases where their conduct would meet the threshold for harassment. There's also the more general public order offences and antisocial behaviour offences.

But the popular auditors know how to stay just the right side of the law, or at least they do a good enough job of convincing police officers that they're the right side of the law, though you know the officers are mentally rolling their eyes whenever they have to deal with them.

Calling the police on them, getting into protracted legal debates about trespass, complaining to them that their workers don't want to be filmed through their see-through fence, etc is just giving them material to publish online, and will only seek to make the videos more popular, having the opposite effect to keeping your business out of the spotlight.

Minimal engagement, polite but assertive, they'll go away and not even publish.

 

[Parallel]

I’ve noticed that anti-social behaviour seems to have got worse on some routes, particularly on Saturdays.

Examples are XC’s route between Exeter and Birmingham, there seems to be large groups of people travelling to sports events or on stag/hen weekends who board these services and just behave appallingly. Most recently a group of lads boarded on a Saturday morning, crates of beer, standing in the vestibule as there were no seats available (not unusual on XC), being rude to other passengers, kicking the hell out of the inside of the vestibule, throwing cans around etc.

Same route but I’ve also heard that things turned nasty in another incident between Bristol and Exeter where a group were behaving very poorly, and the guard was assaulted when she went to intervene.

There’s no excuse for it. Poor behaviour from rowdy groups seems fairly common, probably due to deindividuation (i.e group members individually feel less responsibility/take less accountability than they would if they were travelling alone/as a pair). It seems so common, I’ve no idea what a suitable solution would be - maybe banning alcohol before midday on Saturdays? But if the trains are rammed, there‘s no way that can be enforced.

As others have mentioned, the groups of kids behaving anti-socially in South Wales seems to have increased too. I’ve noticed them over a lot of the Valleys network, at Pontyclun/Llanharan and along the Maesteg branch. It gives the impression there must be a total lack of facilities for young people in these areas, for them to want to spend time on the trains causing a nuisance.

 

[sh24]

The hen and stag do phenomena is new. But rowdy groups of sports fans…the 80’s were many many times worse. Some genuinely scary incidents with various football teams firms/hooligans.

As others have said, the levels of anti social behaviour haven’t changed, just the types. Anyone remember steaming gangs in London in the late 80’s early 90’s?

 

[Trackman]

As others have said, the levels of anti social behaviour haven’t changed, just the types. Anyone remember steaming gangs in London in the late 80’s early 90’s?

I was mugged on a train in the 80s by some teenage lads. They timed it so they could bail at the next station in seconds. What they were not expecting is that I chased after them, think I ran a mile and it was icy. Lost them in a housing estate, but I remember one of the lads distinctive nicknames that his mate called him, so I went on door-to-door enquiries, had a result on the third house and was directed to his home!! I got my expensive watch back and a fiver from his mum for the trouble, think it was to say don't go to the Police, I wouldn't have done anyway, I had my watch back, that all what mattered. Oddly enough, the booking clerk collared me when I went back to the station and asked me what went on, I told him and invited me into the booking office and made me a brew, the booking clerk knew who they were, so if I hadn't found them, the booking clerk would have helped me find them.

 

[Barry169]

The hen and stag do phenomena is new. But rowdy groups of sports fans…the 80’s were many many times worse. Some genuinely scary incidents with various football teams firms/hooligans.

As others have said, the levels of anti social behaviour haven’t changed, just the types. Anyone remember steaming gangs in London in the late 80’s early 90’s?

People tend to forget things that have improved, like less dog poo on pavements, smoking on trains, and just focus on the stuff that's got worse.

 

[Horizon22]

Do you have any actual evidence for this?

It is a common perception among most generations through the ages that crime is getting worse from one generation to the next.

This perception persists when there is no evidence for it being true, or even when the reverse is true.

Greater London Crime and Safety Statistics | CrimeRate

How dangerous is Greater London and how does it compare to other counties in London? If you are searching for crime statistics in London, you must read our report.

crimerate.co.uk

This myth isn't recent or confined to the UK; it is an extremely long-standing, worldwide phenomenon.

Kids and Crime: Is the next generation really that bad?

One of the consistent themes in society is older generations believe the newest generation is the worst behaved.

okcfox.com

Every generation has been ‘doomed’ — yet we’re still here

Each generation has remarkable differences and unique characterizations, but the one thing that hasn’t changed is the tendency for those generations to critique each other.

www.deseret.com

I do wonder if it's possibly made even worse in the modern era by increased reporting and also social media hysteria.

Whilst I agree generally about the generational misconception of crime getting worse, I do wonder how much is going under-reported these days as people feel reporting it is going to achieve nothing or a lack of faith in the police.