Measured by the most recent FBI figures, the national crime rate is soaring: up 6% in 1973, up 15% in the first three months of this year. In Orange, Calif, (pop. 83,900), the statistics reflect a refreshing change. City Manager Gifford Miller has a ready answer: Orange's pilot project of anticrime wage incentives for its 118-member police force.
Last summer Miller announced that if the incidence of rape, robbery, burglary and auto theft dropped 3%, everyone on the force would get a 1% salary boost. A 6% reduction would translate into a 2% pay increase; after that, each 2% drop would earn...