Bruce Wallace of the Los Angeles Times writes an amusing story of his experience in Tokyo when his clunky, cheap bicycle was stolen. When a drunk stole his bike, the police took the crime seriously. Very seriously indeed; up to and including staking out the bicycle when spotted at a railway station, on the suspicion that the thief might return to use it again. This for a rusty, creaky bike worth less than $50.This is the famous broken window theory of law enforcement on steroids. And it works. Japanese cities remain incredibly safe by the standards of the West. In all my years of living in Tokyo and Osaka, I never once felt afraid walking through parks in the middle of the night, and never lost anything to thieves. It may help that Japan has a past that featured draconian punishments for miscreants. And that until World War II the concept of rights for the accused was almost unknown. But still, the Japanese know that the cost of vigorous law enforcement is far lower than the cost of...(Read Full Post)