inch v.
神戸市で起こった痛ましい事件を受けて、子どもの誘拐や事件に巻き込まれるのを未然に防ぐため、対策案が考えられてきています。
記事にある“inch”という単語は、長さを表す単位としておなじみのものかと思いますが、ここでは動詞として用いられています。「少しずつ注意（苦労）して動く（進む）」という意味があります。『プラクティカルジーニアス英和辞典』（大修館書店）ここでは、「子ども達の安全に向けて模索しながら進めていく」という意味になるかと思います。
Japan begins soul-searching over crimes against unsupervised children
“Japanese teachers are blindly of the opinion that criminals only appear on an empty street during the night. But that’s nonsense. What kind of kid wanders around at night? Criminals show up when and where they’re certain they can find many of their targets,” he said, adding that about 90 percent of today’s so-called community safety maps — neighborhood plans designed to visualize criminal hot spots — are drafted at schools based on this misguided assumption.
That said, Japan, at least on the municipal level, appears to be inching toward providing better security for children who walk home from school alone.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government, for one, is offering municipalities partial subsidies for installing security cameras along school routes.
子ども達が安心して楽しく登下校が出来る世の中になってほしいです。（Starlight）
