Serious crime increases

New figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show there have been big increases in violent crime and that there needs to be a proper debate on the issue, says Jim Mallen, chairman of Bedfordshire Police Federation.

The ONS Crime Survey of England and Wales showed that in the 12 months to June 2016:

  • Violent crime in England and Wales soared by 24 per cent
  • Knife crime rose by nine per cent
  • Gun crime went up by seven per cent, and
  • Reported rapes and other sex offences increased by 14 per cent.

Jim said that with officer numbers falling considerably in the last seven years communities were feeling the effects of there just not being enough of them to go around.

“These figures also show that some of the most serious crimes are on the increase and that means that more and more people are falling victim to these offences,” he explained.

“Our members and the rest of the police family are doing the best they can to protect their communities but it is coming at a cost to their own health and welfare as we see stress and mental health difficulties increase.

“The Federation has been arguing for some time that you cannot cut police budgets without there being an impact on the service the police can provide. The public are feeling the effects of the cuts, as are police officers and police staff. It is time for the Government to engage in a proper debate on this issue.”

The ONS is largely dismissive of the police recorded figures saying they are ‘largely due to improvements in recording practices and increased coverage, although it does include a small but genuine increase in some categories of violent crime’.

It is blaming the introduction of new harassment offences such as revenge porn and coercive control. It argues the overall crime rate remains broadly flat as per its Crime Survey, estimating that there were 6.4m crime incidents over the year, a fall of one per cent compared with the previous year.

It has also mentioned that the figures for cyber and online crime – not yet included in the survey – indicate an estimated 5.6 million fraud and computer misuse offences over the year.

But Calum Macleod, vice chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, agrees with the concerns raised by the Bedfordshire Police Federation chairman.

"Whichever way you dress it up, you cannot disguise the fact that the most shocking crimes are increasing at an alarming rate,” he said.

“You cannot get away from the fact that the police recorded figures reflect real crimes reported by real people, and they have to be investigated by a dwindling number of officers.”

He added: “We also know that there has been an explosion of online and cyber-crime – last year there were an additional estimated 5.6 million fraud and computer misuse offences, which also have to be investigated – and this trend shows no sign of abating.”

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