Crime statistics say things are improving in California, yet for some residents, that reading does not square with what they notice in their own communities. When the official numbers and what people experience seem to point in different directions, it becomes harder to know what each is telling us.

Part of the difficulty is what never enters the official record. Some victims choose not to report crimes to police, so what the statistics can capture, and what may remain outside them, is an open question.

Patricia Wenskunas, founder and CEO of Crime Survivors, Inc., and Michael Gates, former Huntington Beach City attorney and candidate for California Attorney General, bring two different perspectives to that question. Their conversation examines what happens before an incident is included in the official crime data and what may be missed along the way.

Views expressed in this video are the opinions of the host and the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.