Banditry in middle earth and the third age

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Aragorn makes mention of guarding Bree and the Shire from creatures that seem more sinister.

Yes, and this is consistent with the rest of Butterbur's quote:
"the Rangers have all gone away, folk tell me. I don't think we've rightly understood till now what they did for us. For there's been worse than robbers about. Wolves were howling round the fences last winter. And there's dark shapes in the woods, dreadful things that it makes the blood run cold to think of."
So perhaps the evil things in the wilds of Eriador limited how much ordinary criminal activity went on.