The latest official crime figures for England and Wales show a four-decade low – as far as it goes, writes Mark Rowe.
The figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) showed that, for the offences it covers, there were an estimated 6.8 million incidents of crime against households and resident adults (aged 16 and over). This is a 7pc decrease compared with the previous year’s survey, and the lowest estimate since the survey began in 1981.
The decrease in all CSEW crime was driven by a reduction in the all theft offences category (down 8pc). Within this group there were falls in the sub-categories of theft from the person (down 21pc) and other theft of personal property (down 22pc). However, there was no significant change in other sub-categories such as domestic burglary and vehicle-related theft.
Fraud, online
While other acquisitive crimes recorded by the police continued to decline there was an increase in the volume of fraud offences recorded by Action Fraud (up 9 per cent) largely driven by increases in non-investment fraud (up 15 per cent) – a category which includes frauds related to online shopping and computer software services. This is the first time a year-on-year comparison can be made on a like for like basis. It is difficult to know whether this means actual levels of fraud rose or simply that a greater proportion of victims reported to Action Fraud. However, other sources also show year on year increases, including data supplied to the National Fraud Investigation Bureau from industry sources (up 17 per cent). As much fraud is online, there is little that the CSEW has to say about crime done online. As the Office for National Statistics (ONS) says, it’s a face-to-face victimisation survey of household residents in England and Wales, asked about their experiences of a selected number of offences in the 12 months before the interview. It covers children aged 10 to 15 and adults aged 16 and over, but does not cover those living in group residences (such as care homes, student halls of residence and prisons), or crimes against commercial or public sector bodies – again, typically victims of fraud or corporate crime.
In contrast to the CSEW, there was a 3pc increase in police recorded crime compared with the previous year, with 3.8 million offences recorded in the year ending March 2015.
The rise in the police figures was driven by increases in violence against the person offences (up by 23pc compared with the previous year). However, this increase is thought to reflect changes in recording practices rather than a rise in violent crime, according to the ONS. The CSEW estimate for violent crime showed no change compared with the previous year’s survey, following decreases over the past four years.
To find out how crime has changed since the 1980s take a look at an animated timeline of crime in England and Wales: http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/HTMLDocs/dvc188/index.html.
Details
Offences involving knives and sharp instruments increased by 2 per cent in the year ending March 2015. This small rise masked more significant changes at offence level with an increase in assaults (up 13 per cent, from 11,911 to 13,488) and a decrease in robberies (down 14 per cent, from 11,927 to 10,270). In addition, the related category of weapon possession offences also rose by 10 per cent (from 9,050 to 9,951). Such serious offences are not thought to be prone to changes in recording practice.
Sexual offences recorded by the police rose by 37 per cent with the numbers of rapes (29,265) and other sexual offences (58,954) being at the highest level since the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in 2002/03. As well as improvements in recording, this is also thought to reflect a greater willingness of victims to come forward to report such crimes. In contrast, the latest estimate from the CSEW showed no significant change in the proportion of adults aged 16-59 who reported being a victim of a sexual assault (including attempted assaults) in the last year (1.7 per cent).
Police comments
In Devon and Cornwall Assistant Chief Constable Paul Netherton said: “The updated figures released today are encouraging and testament to the work going on across the Force to reduce crime and make our communities safer.
“It should be noted that this is only one measure of police performance and only gives a small snapshot of what we do as a constabulary and with our many partner agencies.
“Crime accounts for only around 20 per cent of the work we do, and figures like this don’t take into account the many other things we do to protect our communities and deal with threat, risk and harm across all walks of life.
“Detecting and preventing harm, working closer than ever with partners to safeguard communities, providing a high quality of service to our public and ensuring we are a professional and ethical force are all things we are striving to achieve.
“While it is very pleasing to see crime remaining low and Devon and Cornwall as the fifth safest place to live and work in the country, dealing effectively with things which often don’t result in a crime being recoded remains critical to us.”
South Yorkshire Police Deputy Chief Constable, Andy Holt, said he was encouraged to see that a reduction in crime was still achieved in many areas, despite the challenging austerity measures being faced by the force.
He said: “We have recently lost many experienced and valued members of the force through voluntary redundancy. And it doesn’t end there – like all forces across the country, these are extremely challenging times and we are required to save £59 million by 2020 as part of the ongoing comprehensive spending review.
“We are working hard to minimise the impact staffing levels has on the public of South Yorkshire and continue to explore more efficient and smarter ways to keep people safe, including the increased use of mobile technology, which means officers are more visible and in the communities they serve.
“The increase we’ve seen in the reporting of sexual offences, in my view, is a positive sign that victims of such terrible abuse in South Yorkshire feel confident in reporting their experiences to us in the knowledge they will be supported and listened to.
“Our officers and staff work tirelessly everyday to keep people safe and we remain committed to delivering the best possible service to victims of crime as well as bringing those responsible to justice.”
And National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for crime recording, Chief Constable Jeff Farrar, has given his reaction to today’s publication of the latest Crime Outcomes statistics from the Home Office. Farrar said: “We are pleased to see that 93 per cent of all crimes now have a recorded outcome. We know that it can be distressing for victims of sexual offences when they are waiting to hear the result of their report to police. These cases are complex and require extensive investigation to ensure that the Crown Prosecution Service has as much evidence as possible to help them make their charging decisions; unfortunately this can take some time.
“Police will continue to work hard to get the best outcome for victims as quickly as we can.”
Meanwhile the Police Federation chair Steve White said the government needs to work with those who know and care about policing to ensure that resources are in place to tackle all types of crime. Mr White was speaking after the Home Office published figures showing police numbers were down by 1.1 per cent, or 2222, over the year to the end of March and the Office for National Statistics published figures showing police recorded crime had risen by three per cent over the same period.
Mr White said: ‘The bottom line is that officer numbers are still falling while certain types of crime are showing a worrying rise. Today’s statistics show that more officers are on the front line but the danger is that forces are merely robbing Peter to pay Paul and other areas of policing are suffering. If there are fewer officers it means that fewer crimes are going to be dealt with, fewer criminals are going to have their collars felt and fewer victims are going to receive the justice they deserve.
‘There needs to be a widespread and full debate about the shrinking numbers of officers and staff available to forces and how the service can best use the dwindling resources available. We are particularly concerned about the slow death of neighbourhood policing that we are seeing in forces across England and Wales.
‘With dwindling resources, the link between officers and the public they serve is in danger of being broken. At a time of heightened terrorism threat and with pressures increasing on officers from across the spectrum of crime, it is incumbent on the government to ensure that forces have adequate resources to meet these threats.’
Responding to Office for National Statistics figures showing a rise in knife crime, sexual offences, assaults and violent crime, Mr White added: ‘More needs to be done to capture the full picture of crime rates. Aside from the worrying rises in certain crime types, these statistics do not take account of all crime nor do they take account of all the other vital work that officers do including counter-terrorism, monitoring sex offenders, child protection, policing football matches and much more.
‘Crime is changing and for the first time we are seeing statistics that show that online crime, such a fraud, is increasing. But what about other online crimes such as identity theft and online child sexual exploitation? These are just a few examples of cyber-crimes that are on the rise but vastly under-reported. More needs to be done to provide forces with proper resources to allow them to serve the public as effectively as possible.’
What Labour say
Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, said the figures issued a fresh warning against complacency from this Government, with some troubling rises in recorded crime. “The first increase in knife crime for many years is very concerning, particularly as we know neighbourhood policing and strong community partnerships are the key to preventing knife crime and getting knives off the street. Similarly with a 23 per cent increase in recorded violent crime, many people will be rightly concerned that neighbourhood policing is under threat when it should be protected.
“And while the 37 per cent increase in sexual offences is no doubt connected to more victims coming forward, the scale of sexual offending in this country and the criminal justice system’s response is shocking.
“The police recorded nearly double the number of rapes compared to just five years ago, yet still the vast majority of offences do not result in an arrest or prosecution. In 2014/15 there were 29,265 recorded rapes, but only 2,581 convictions. In the last five years the number of convictions has increased by only 300, compared to over 14,000 more recorded crimes. There needs to be a step change in how we tackle sexual offences in this country, with greater police resource focused on these life-changing, high harm crimes.
“The Government should think long and hard about how their spending decisions will affect frontline policing. Labour set out a costed plan to find £800m in savings from the police budget without impacting on the frontline, but so far the Government are committed to cutting more frontline police instead. It’s got to stop.”
