October 2012
Featured in this insight: Police, crime & community safety
Survey sees drop in UK crime rates: National market research has shown that despite the weak economy and less police officers on the streets of Britain, crime is at its lowest recorded level since 1986.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, which looked at data from forces plus an authoritative survey, saw a 6% drop in crime over the past year alone. Meanwhile, rates of violence are half what they were in the 1990s.
Since 2011, all the main categories of offence have seen reductions - homicide is down 14%, robbery 7%, vehicle theft 8% and household crime (such as burglary) 7%.
The only areas that have seen a rise are personal theft such as pickpocketing which has risen by 3% in a year, and opportunistic household theft (for example criminals breaking into garden sheds), which increased by 1%.
In total, the Office for National Statistics said police have recorded 3.9million offences in the 12 months to June 2012, the lowest number since 1986. The figures also cover the period of the riots in summer 2011, but because the looting and destruction took place in a single month and in a handful of area pockets it had a “small” impact on statistics.
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