Case Studies

Rise in theft

by Mark Rowe

The latest estimate from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) showed an 8pc increase (to 3,591,000) in theft compared with the previous year.

Meanwhile police recorded crime and NHS data showed a continued rise in the number of police recorded offences involving knives or sharp instruments; rising numbers of admissions to hospital in England for assaults involving a sharp instrument; more murders after a long-term decline (from 630 to 719); and a decrease in the number of police recorded offences involving firearms. Likewise offences recorded by the police showed a 7pc increase in vehicle thefts (to 457,970) and 2pc increase in burglary offences as recorded by the police (to 432,267).

As for computer crime, that the CSEW has only just begun to include, a 30pc decrease in computer misuse offences was estimated by the Crime Survey, for the year ending June 2018.

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At the Office for National Statistics, Joe Traynor of the ONS Centre for Crime and Justice, said that to put the crime survey figures into context, only two out of ten adults experienced crime in the latest year. He said: “Over recent decades, we’ve seen continued falls in overall levels of crime but in the last year the trend has been more stable. The latest figures show no change in the total level of crime but variation by crime types. We saw rises in some types of theft and in some lower-volume but higher-harm types of violence, balanced by a fall in the high-volume offence of computer misuse. There was no change in other high-volume offences such as overall violence, criminal damage and fraud.

For Labour, Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott called the figures truly shocking. “You can’t keep the public safe on the cheap. The Tories are failing in their duty to protect the public and keep our citizens safe. They have now cut over 21,000 police officers since 2010, leaving forces across the country under staffed and overstretched. These figures are a tragic indictment of this Tory government’s policies. Labour will recruit 10,000 new police officers to address this crisis.”

On shop crime, Association of Convenience Stores chief executive James Lowman said: “The official statistics may show a slight increase in the number of shop thefts being recorded by the police, but the number of incidents that don’t end up being recorded is likely to be much higher. Retailers consistently tell us that shop theft is regarded as ‘low level’ by their police forces, often do not get dealt with properly and are sometimes screened out entirely. These incidents need to be taken seriously by forces, because theft often leads to abuse and aggressive behaviour against retailers and their staff, who are just doing their job and enforcing the law.”

On cyber, Gavin Millard, VP of intelligence at cyber product company Tenable, said the figures by the Office of National Statistics’ own admission, aren’t necessarily a true reflection of the threatscape. “All other indicators are that cybercrime is on the increase – organisations and individuals continue to fall victim to ransomware, data breaches make headlines almost daily, and Action Fraud claims that fraud and computer hacking are ten times more common than burglary.”

And Javvad Malik, security advocate at AlienVault, said: “Looking at the data we collect in Open Threat Exchange (OTX) there is nothing to indicate that computer attacks are on the decline. From a research perspective, the results should be interpreted taking into account the biases of the limited number of questions, the sample size, and overall awareness the participants in the survey had of being able to identify malware or unauthorised access.”

West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Mark Burns-Williamson said: “Whilst it is uncomfortable to see any increased risk of being a victim of crime in West Yorkshire, the trend does generally match the experience nationally which tells a story around the pressures and continued underfunding of policing.

“What has to be recognised, however, is that the continued lack of adequate Government funding is compounding the problems and making it ever more difficult to meet demand and effectively reduce crime for policing and our partners. Resources are having to be carefully managed to focus on areas of greatest risk or harm to the public.”

At the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, APCC Performance lead, Matthew Scott said: “In response to scrutiny, police forces up and down the country have been improving how they record crime, which is good news for victims. However, a knock-on effect of improved recording practices is that published raw data is then difficult to compare with past data. In truth, the Police Recorded Crime figures and the Crime Survey for England and Wales are both flawed as absolute measures of police performance.

“Instead, every local Police and Crime Commissioner holds their own Chief Constable to account by understanding the various demands their own force faces – around 80% of which is non-crime related – and by assessing how effective and efficient their force is at meeting those demands. And where there are concerns around specific issues, PCCs are helping to find solutions as I have been doing with my Violence Reduction Challenge in Kent, for example.”

And for the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), Lead for Crime Recording and Statistics, Chief Constable Bill Skelly said: “Rising crime is placing greater demand on policing as forces strive to reduce crime as well as respond to a growing terrorist threat and more calls from the public for help, including responding to people in crisis when other agencies lack their own capacity.

“The gap between crimes reported and those that end in a criminal justice outcome is a real concern for us. A range of factors affect detection rates. Firstly police forces are improving the way they record crime, including crimes that have no suspect and little prospect of a criminal justice outcome. There are also significant rises in cases that are complex to investigate such as child sexual exploitation, abuse and online fraud. In many of these cases, multiple crimes are recorded which victims may not wish to take through to prosecution. Increased demand and fewer officer numbers have also had an impact.

“We’re using a range of tactics to bear down on violence – a new coordination centre to improve the response to county lines networks was established in September and a national operation this month led to hundreds of arrests and the safeguarding of vulnerable people. This action must be supported by cross-agency early intervention and prevention to tackle the root causes of crime.”

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