London, Oct 20, 2016 – Office for National Statistics (ONS) today released quarterly crime figures for forces in England and Wales.
The figures show that the Metropolitan Police has recorded reductions in certain crime categories – namely robbery and burglary.
Where crimes have reduced in the Met, the reductions were generally greater than those seen across both England and Wales (E&W) and the Most Similar Group (MSG) of police forces – Greater Manchester, West Midlands, West Yorkshire.
Overall, the figures for the rolling 12 months from June 2015 to June 2016 show the Met has achieved decreases in robbery (2.3% decrease); residential burglary (5.6% decrease); non-residential burglary (2.7% decrease); bicycle theft (7.1% decrease); and all other theft (2.3% decrease).
Burglary continues its downward trend with offences at their lowest level since at least 1973/74. There were 3,300 fewer offences in total for the 12 months to the end of June 2016 compared to the preceding year. The Met’s reduction in burglary represents 35% of the total fall in burglary in E&W as a whole.
The Total Number of Offences (TNOs) in the Met has increased by 3.3% over the comparison period, continuing the small Met increase reported at the time of the last quarterly release. This is smaller than the rest of E&W and in the MSG, which were greater than the Met increase: 9% and 12.2% respectively.
The ONS acknowledges that, in part at least, changes and improvements in crime recording have led to violent offences increasing in the Met (violence against the person +11.5%), MSG (+30.7%), and across the rest of E&W as a whole (+27.5%). The Met, along with the majority of other forces, shows a larger increase in violence without injury, than violence with injury.
Theft-person across the Met has remained level, year-on-year, whereas E&W and our MSG have seen increases. Our rate of offences per 1,000 population is still more than twice that of our MSG (3.8 vs 1.6 offences per 1,000 pop).
The number of recorded sexual offences saw an increase of 9.4% and the positive effect of Operation Yewtree has been a major factor in increased confidence of victims to come forward.
There was an increase of 11 homicides in the MPS over the timescale – 12 months to June 2016 – (99 to 110). The actual incidence of homicides in London is considerably lower compared to other major cities across the globe.
Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt, Territorial Policing, said: “I am extremely proud of the very significant reductions we have achieved in certain crime types – namely robbery and burglary – and am determined we work to maintain these downward trends and improve on them.
“Where we have seen rises in offences, we will continue to focus on targeting offenders, supporting victims and working closely with our communities.
“Dealing with crime is of course only one facet of what we do as a police force – with much of our efforts focused on safeguarding the vulnerable, counter terrorism investigations and facilitating the hundreds of events that take place in our capital every year.”
