Crime fell by 10 per cent in England and Wales last year to bring the longest
decline in offending in living memory, according to official figures.
Despite mounting public concern at knife crime, and more than 350 such
offences committed every day, attacks with knives and other violent crimes
were down, statistics published yesterday showed. As ministers hailed a 10
per cent fall to 10.1 million offences in the British Crime Survey and a 9
per cent fall to 4.9 million in offences recorded by the police, however,
Paul Wiles, the Home Office chief statistician, said that future trends
might be upward.
Professor Wiles said that the economic downturn might lead to rising property
crimes after years of falling car thefts and residential burglaries.
“Depending on the extent of the downturn, that will put upward pressure on
property crime,” he said.
The level of falling violent crime was at odds with the public’s perception of
their chances of being attacked. “It is possible to have an overall decline
in violence nationally while having outbreaks of violent crimes in
particular places, in particular concentrations,” he said.
Despite falls in overall crime, almost two thirds of people thought that it
was rising. Most blamed drugs and lack of discipline by parents as the chief
causes of crime.
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said that she was very pleased with the
overall figures. She said: “While the BCS shows violence falling by 40 per
cent since 1997, with a 12 per cent fall in the last year alone, we also
know that knives are still being used in the most serious violent incidents.”
Two sets of figures published yesterday gave widely different estimates on the
extent of knife crime. Figures collected by police, which measured knife
offences for the first time, recorded more than 22,000 offences, including
231 attempted murders, 14,000 robberies and 8,000 woundings.
More than half of serious knife crimes recorded by police were in three areas.
London had the most, with 7,400, followed by the West Midlands and Greater
Manchester.
The British Crime Survey, a broader exercise based on interviews with 47,000
people, found that there were an estimated 130,000 knife offences. Even the
survey figure is likely to be an underestimate as it does not include
offences involving children under 16 or those committed on commercial
premises.
Overall, both the British Crime Survey figures and those recorded by police
forces in England and Wales were down, or stable, apart from a rise in drug
offending recorded by police. Levels of violent crime, vehicle-related theft
and vandalism all fell by more than 10 per cent, according to the British
Crime Survey, while domestic burglary and thefts from the person were
similar to last year.
Burglary and vehicle crime has fallen by two thirds since 1995 - largely
because of the installation of security devices in homes and cars.
Sexual offences, violence, robbery, criminal damage and domestic burglary all
fell, according to police figures. The number of killings rose 3 per cent to
784 in 2007-08, firearm offences by 2 per cent to 9,803 and drug offences by
18 per cent to 229,000.
Although firearm offences were up, more than half of gun crime was in London,
the West Midlands and Greater Manchester. The three areas also accounted for
more than half of the most serious violent knife crimes.
The Home Office said that the rise in drug offences was due to an increase in
the number of people caught in possession of cannabis. This was linked to an
increased use of police powers to issue warnings for being found with the
drug. Overall, use of drugs among those aged 16-24 is at its lowest level
since 1995, according to the British Crime Survey. The figures show that
21.3 per cent of that age group had used an illegal drug in 2007-08 compared
with 24.1 per cent in the previous year.
The survey suggests that the prevalence of cannabis used among the 16-24 group
has fallen from 26 to 17.9 per cent since 1995.
Dominic Grieve, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: “The fact that violent crime
has risen by 80 per cent under Labour and the scale of knife crime on our
streets is a shocking indictment of Labour’s failure to tackle crime.”
Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: “The public has
lost faith in the crime figures. The Government tells them crime is falling
but a rising number of people think it is getting worse.” Extremists and
single-issue groups could influence policing under plans to allow direct
elections to authorities overseeing police services, the Government was
warned last night.
The Association of Police Authorities said that there was a “very real danger”
that direct elections would attract extremists intent on influencing
policing for their own ends.
The Home Office plan is part of a reform package that involves the scrapping
of all but one government-set target for the police service.
Four targets are being scrapped, including one for the proportion of ethnic
minority officers employed in each force. Police officers will also be
required to respond to emergencies within 15 minutes and attend nonemergency
calls within 48 hours.
Fair cop, dodgy cop
Why crime might be falling
- Years of economic growth
- More burglar alarms and window locks
- Better security measures in cars
- There are fewer younger people, who are largely those involved in crime
Why we should be sceptical
- BCS does not cover crime committed by those under 16
- Nor commercial crime
- No overall measure of identity fraud
- Does BCS reflect the full extent of inner-city crime among young?
- Underreporting to police
"firearm offences [rose] by 2 per cent"
"more than half of gun crime was in London, the West Midlands and Greater Manchester"
Interesting, since Greater Manchester police last year told the BBC that the 1997 handgun ban had been effective in reducing gun crime.
Alex Swanson, Milton Keynes, UK
Everyone seems to be banging on about a lack of crime being reported but surely that only concerns minor crimes, if you're stabbed or seriously assaulted it is reported- i.e. violent crime has fallen and all the sacremongering and anecdotal evidence in the world is not going to change that.
Hamish, London,
Much could be learned if we understand what is behind the unrest raised in the Family Law article.We are seeking to instill respect and values in our young when we ourselves have become used to medioca and accepting of injustice. Why should anyone show respect to law givers that let us down so often
Dave Farmer, Broxbourne, England
Crime is a social phenomenon more than an economic one. In Britain (and Ireland) we have been busy destroying the standards of social behaviour and responsibility for 40 years. Whether the realities of the recession we are about to experience will change that for the better is very questionable.
Paul, Carlow, Ireland
We have plenty of falling investigation by police and plenty of reporting by people who know that the crime will not be investigated but we don't have falling crime. We do have a manipulative, disingenuous government though.
judy, Liverpool, England
The oil crisis is good news. The good old days are on the way back. The quantity of crime will not decrease but much of decent society will be shielded from it when yobs can no longer afford to drive out of their ghettoes. Then we'll be just like a normal country again.
Tam Earl-Aine, Cheltenham,
fight in pub car park two police officers turned up no arrests just a ticking off.2mnths ago man lights cigarette up in pub refuses to put it out landlord rings police 30 officers turn up 6 in riot gear one arrest.there are lies then there are government statistics
brian rice, halifax, england
if people commit crime what has that to do with the government? police do not prevent crime as a rule , they detect it and arrest criminals, we hope
peter c, devizes, wessex
You cannot quantifiably measure life's experiences so our measures will never quantify life!
i.e. we ALL KNOW these figure are purely academic as we've all suffered some form of intimidation or worse on the streets or been the victims of a crime we knew wasn't worth reporting.
Nathan, Maputo, Mozambique
Crime is ffalling because the villains have found safer and less risky exploits. Non recorded drug abuse so readily skipped over is now endemic and underlies about 50% of known criminality in the UK. You can couple with this the counterfeiting of currency, fashon goods and identification papers
Robert El-Cid., Hull., East Yorks.,
the way statistics are spun by nu labour and the police would make goebels proud.
lorne, derby, england
The key word is "reported". Why bother when the police swamp you in paperwork and never bother to catch the offender. The gut instinct is right : real crime is not falling.
P Wilson, Brighton,
The comparison for Britain is now with Stalin's Russia. There the statistics always showed a paradise on earth but the public knew the statistics were lying. This government has frequently changed the way that all its statistics are collected so as to confuse. 5 stabbings in Bolton last weekend.
George, Bolton, England
If anyone believes there has been a c10% reduction in crime then pull the other one when a full peal of Bow Bells will be heard. NB it is only "reported" crime. It pains me to say it but as the police are so mistrusted, absent from the streets and ineffective nobody bothers to talk them anymore.
Terry, Chichester, UK