UK - Violent crime on the rise

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BBC - Violent crime on the rise

The figures relate to crimes reported to police

Violent crime in England and Wales is continuing to rise while detection rates by police officers are falling, according to official figures.

Home Office crime statistics released on Thursday suggest that recorded violent crimes have increased by 4.3% in the 12 months ending in March, but 31 of the 43 police forces solved fewer cases.

Robbery has shown one of the biggest increases, up 13% in the last year, with the rise partly blamed on teenage boys stealing mobile phones from other youngsters.

But overall recorded crime has fallen by 2.5% to 5.2 million, with non-violent crimes, like burglaries and car thefts decreasing.

Violence against the person rose 3.4% to 601,000 offences, wounding rose 18% to 3,200 and racially-aggravated harassment rose 15.8% to 12,500.

The chairman of the Police Federation, Fred Broughton, said "soaring" violent crime was partly due to the government's emphasis away from beat policing.

"Whilst the service has made significant strides in reducing burglaries and vehicle crime by concentrating its efforts on these government-led performance indicators, it could be argued that such targets have detracted attention away from traditional patrolling," he said.

Investment

The Home Office said despite the rise in reported incidents of violent crime to 733,000, the rate of the rise has slowed from 16% last year.

It also pointed out that the British Crime Survey, which interviews people to find their experience of crime whether they have reported it or not, suggests a downward trend with a 22% fall in violent offences.

Mr Blunkett said the survey will now be published every year instead of every two, and at the same time as recorded crime figures to help give a clearer picture of crime.

"There are no quick wins on crime - it is a long term investment," he said.

"We have had real success with burglary and car crime but this was hard earned.

"One continued area of concern is the continued rise in robbery. However, the rate is slowing significantly and is now half of the 26% increase for the previous 12 months.

'Appalling'

"Part of this is due to a rise in mobile phone theft, which in some urban areas accounts for up to 40% of all robberies."

The statistics show police solved less just 24% of all reported crimes in the year to March, compared with 25% in the previous 12 months and 34% in 1989.

The clear up rate for burglaries was 12%, 6% for thefts from the person, 8% for thefts from vehicles and 18% for robberies.

There was a 55% clear-up rate for violent crimes generally, including nine out of 10 murders.

Home Office statistician Paul Wiles said detection rates were probably at their lowest ever "in numerical terms".

But he said the fall in detection rates could be because the circumstances in which police can claim a crime has been solved have been narrowed.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes said it was "appalling" that three out of four crimes go unsolved.

"Nothing is more likely to foster insecurity and fear of crime than so few crimes resulting in someone being brought to account for their actions," he said.

Mr Wiles said recorded crime fell in 34 police forces, with Cumbria showing the largest decrease at 12.9%, followed by South Wales at 12.5%.

Nine forces recorded rises, topped by Lancashire with an 8.1% increase, followed by North Wales at 7% and Staffordshire at 5.9%.

However, five of these nine forces have changed the way they record crime which results in a higher proportion of incidents being recorded, he said.

Mr Wiles predicted that if those five had not changed their methods the total number of recorded crimes would have fallen 3.5%.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001


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