Crime in England rises 10 per cent in one year

Police-recorded crime has risen by 10 per cent across England and Wales - the largest annual rise for a decade - the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has found. The figures show the largest annual rise in crimes recorded by the police in a decade, with nearly five million offences in the year ending March 2017. Violent crime was up by 18 per cent, robbery by 16 per cent and sex offences by 14 per cent. The number of offences of violence against a person went up to 175,060 offences, theft to 118,774 and public order offences to 78,697. There was also a 23 per cent increase in firearms offences and a 20 per cent increase in knife crime. There were 723 homicides in the past year, made up of murders, manslaughters and infanticide cases. The figures also show that latest estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) reveal there were 5.9 million incidents of crime covered by the survey excluding the new Experimental Statistics on fraud and computer misuse, a 7 per cent reduction compared with the previous year’s survey. Including fraud and computer misuse offences, there were an estimated 11 million incidents of crime covered by the CSEW. According to the ONS, the 10 per cent increase in police-recorded crime is likely to reflect a range of factors, which vary by crime type, including continuing improvements to recording processes and practices, expanded offence coverage and also genuine increases in some crime types. The likelihood of being a victim of CSEW crime (excluding fraud and computer misuse) has fallen considerably over time, the ONS says, with around 14 in 100 adults being victims in the latest survey year compared with around 25 in 100 adults a decade ago and around 40 in 100 adults in 1995. ONS says the differing trends between the two at a sources can be explained by methodological differences between them, such as crime and population coverage and variations in police recording practices over time. John Flatley, Crime Statistics and Analysis, ONS, said: “The latest figures show the largest annual rise in crimes recorded by the police in a decade. While ongoing improvements to recording practices are driving this volume rise, we believe actual increases in crime are also a factor in a number of categories. “Some of the increases recorded by the police are in the low volume, but high harm, offences such as homicide and knife crime that the Crime Survey is not designed to measure. If the increases in burglary and vehicle theft recorded by the police continue we would expect these to show up in the survey in due course. We will continue to monitor these trends and investigate the factors driving any changes.” Simon Byrne, National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Criminal Justice, has since responded to the figures, saying: “The 10 per cent rise in police recorded crime causes us concern, particularly when the number of police officers is at its lowest since 1985. It demonstrates how crime is changing with hidden crimes are coming to the fore, old crimes are being committed in new ways and truly new crimes emerging. “Statistics from the Crime Survey for England and Wales appear to tell a different story with a seven per cent fall compared with last year. This is in part explained by the two measures covering different crime types with fraud and computer misuse offences, homicide and knife crime not included in the crime survey. The statistics tell us that people are still less likely to be a victim of crime today than decade ago. “While we have worked hard in recent years to increase reporting of crime and to improve our recording practices, these do not fully explain the rises we are seeing today. There are genuine rises in a range of crimes like theft, knife crime and some types of violent crime including homicide, and high numbers of people targeted by fraud and cyber offences. “We are committed to doing all we can to bring these crimes down and forces are finding new ways to tackle knife crime, make theft harder, fight cybercrime and intervene early to prevent people turning to violence. “Fighting crime is core to what we do, but we need government support to stabilise our funding and to encourage key partners to do all they can to help us prevent crime.”