The Guardian
Police recorded 10% rise in crime, with 18% increase in violent crime and a 26% rise in murder rate in year to March
The home secretary, Amber Rudd, at Southwark police station in London this month. There has been a 20% surge in gun and knife crime. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Police-recorded crime has risen by 10% across England and Wales – the largest annual rise for a decade – according to the Office of National Statistics.
The latest crime figures for the 12 months to March also show an 18% rise in violent crime, including a 20% surge in gun crime and knife crime. The official figures also show a 26% rise in the murder rate to 723 homicides.
The 10% rise in police recorded crime to nearly 5m offences include increases in burglary and vehicle theft suggesting that the long-term fall in these higher volume offences may be coming to an end.
The separate crime survey of England and Wales, which is not designed to measure high-harm but low-volume offences, such as murder and knife crime, shows a 7% fall compared with the previous year excluding fraud and computer misuse offences. If online is included, the number of crimes estimated by the survey rises from 5.9m to 11m.
John Flatley, head of crime statistics and analysis at the Office of National Statistics, said: “The latest figures show the largest annual rise in crimes recorded by the police in a decade. While ongoing improvements to recording practices are driving this volume rise, we believe actual increases in crime are also a factor in a number of categories.
“Some of the increases recorded by the police are in the low-volume, but high-harm, offences such as homicide and knife crime that the Crime Survey is not designed to measure. If the increases in burglary and vehicle theft recorded by the police continue we would expect these to show up in the survey in due course. We will continue to monitor these trends and investigate the factors driving any changes.”
