London: The rise in crime is accelerating with the latest figures showing a 13% rise in all police recorded offences across England and Wales, with even greater increases recorded for violent offences including knife crime, sex offences and violence against the person.
The latest set of crime figures also show an underlying 8% rise in the murder rate, with 629 homicides recorded in the 12 months to June excluding 35 people killed in the London and Manchester terror attacks and the 96 historic 1989 Hillsborough deaths, which were included in the headline figures.
The accelerating trend in the police recorded crime figures, from a 5% rise in the 12 months to June 2015, to 7% in the 12 months to June 2016, and now a 13% rise in the 12 months to this June together with even greater increases in violent crime, will sound alarm bells in Downing Street.
Theresa May might find some comfort in the results of the Crime Survey of England and Wales, which shows a 9% reduction in overall crime but is less effective at providing a good indication of changes in low-volume crimes, including most forms violent crime, or emerging trends.
John Flatley of the Office of National Statistics said: “Today’s figures suggest that the police are dealing with a growing volume of crime. While improvements made by police forces in recording crime are still a factor in the increase, we judge that there have been genuine increases in crime — particularly in some of the low incidence but more harmful categories.
“Police figures cannot provide a good measure of all crime in society, since we know that a large volume of it never comes to their attention. The recent increases in recorded crime need to be seen in the context of the overall decline in crime indicated by the Crime Survey for England and Wales,” he said.
— Guardian News & Media Ltd
