I dunno Chris. Back in the day, when our kids were young, we lived in a little town in northern Vermont. I recall hearing a particular woman going on about how she never locked her door. And Mr. Ski & I laughing over it later, because her kids were the town thieves; of course they weren't stealing from her.
I don't believe people are any better or worse today, intrinsically than they were in the past.
But I think it's fair to say that people Felt safer then, but they Were not safer.
When something, or someone disappeared, they were apt to say the thing "went west" rather than head off to the police station, or that people had run off to sea, off with the gypsies, gone west, ran away with the circus. The assumption was the person was probably OK somewhere. Nowadays, it's much rarer for people to assume someone just ran away To Something. People go to the police right away. And that's why the bodies are found, at least, and sometimes the people are found.