Crime reinforces bonds between the general population of law-abiding citizens. Optimally, there should be a perfect balance between crime and justice. Too little crime causes the public's problem-solving interactivity to atrophy, and too much crime leads to a chaotic, fearful, insular society. When there is a good balance, society naturally works together to creatively solve social problems.
Society needs the infrastructure of justice. Without crime we would not spend the money for a justice system. A justice system is more than just locking up car thieves: it "involves organizing the consciousness, rituals, and moral frameworks that compromise collective being in society in ways that promote fairness, meritocracies, and forms of social life based on equity of opportunity” (Pavlich, 2011).
For example, when a cop tickets you for "speeding" five MPH over the limit, the fees are used to support murder investigations, the prosecution of corporate criminals, cleaning out drug dealers, etc. Petty violations finance a society's justice system so that it can fairly investigate and diligently pursue more serious criminals. Without such public investment, society will not be able to confront large scale criminal activity, and without small scale crime no money will be allocated.
A similar argument can be made for a standing army. Without ever-present danger an army will be disbanded, leaving the society vulnerable to a blitzkrieg-type attack. A peaceful world results in rapidly diminishing armed forces as society reallocates funds to more practical ends.
In an absence of a legitimate threat then, one must be manufactured for the good of society. When petty crimes dry up, they must be invented. Without a constant barrage of international threats and local crime reports, the public would eventually begin to lobby for a reallocation of funds earmarked for military and justice systems.
A fake crime has all the benefits and none of the disadvantages of real crime. First of all, no one gets hurt. There is no victim in a fake crime. Even the ultimate target of a fake crime (the public's right to know the truth) is subordinate to the improved functioning of a healthy society. If the public doesn't know what is good for society, that isn't the fault of the leadership. Leaders will continue to lead, even if the herd doesn't understand why or where it is being herded.
Fake crime, like faked international incidents, keeps the social safe-guards well funded. It keeps social leaders focused on the staged drama of the pursuit, prosecution and resolution of invented threats. Social leaders who are occupied with imaginary dangers are less likely to criticize the existing power structures. In fact, the imaginary crimes can be laid at the doorstep of dangerous civil organizers, thereby defusing potential flashpoints of social unrest.
An integral part of fake crime is fake news. Without the cooperation of the mass media, the psychological benefits of fake crime will be diminished. It's not an exaggeration to say that the social benefits of fake crime increase exponentially with the skill, focus and pervasiveness of the media message. A competent media integrated with the local authorities will result in a well ordered society protected from the feast-or-famine budgeting issues that would normally plague the civil and military infrastructures.
Visual enhancements and trained actors, like those employed by the film industry, would help sell the faked events to an increasingly skeptical public mind. Hungry production companies might be incentivised to create their own threats. The more believable and useful of these "privatized" media inventions can be assembled into a larger campaign of public education.
Civil society is too important to be left to the whims of democratic mobs. The leaders of a society are those who are bold enough to drive the herd away from the cliff and into the valleys of plenty. Consistent budgeting is required in order to cultivate a professional, well funded civil peacekeeping force staffed by the very best personnel society can offer. Fake crime and faked international threats combined with top-notch propaganda will ensure that a society will be able to weather the inevitable downturns in public insecurity.