Police figures show offences up 14% in a year, with knife and gun crime rising even more steeply

The rise in crime in England and Wales is accelerating, according to police figures, which show a 14% year-on-year increase in offences recorded by forces across England and Wales.

Knife crime has gone up even more steeply, by 21% in the 12 months to September, and gun crime has risen by 20%, according to quarterly figures released on Thursday.

Police chiefs said the increases – including a 32% rise in domestic burglary to 261,965 offences and an 18% rise in vehicle-related crimes (443,577 offences) alongside the sharp rises in violent crime – marked a turning point after more than 20 years of sustained falls in these categories.

“Today’s police officers are dealing with more complex crime, more safeguarding and protecting vulnerable people and an unprecedented terror threat, as well as tackling some of the genuine rises in knife and gun crime, robbery, burglary and vehicle-related crime – crimes which turn the trend on many years of reductions,” said chief constable Bill Skelly, of the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

Meanwhile, official figures show that the number of police officers in England and Wales has fallen by 930 in the past 12 months, to 121,929, the lowest level since comparable records began in 1996. Police officer numbers are now 22,424 below their peak in 2009, when there were 144,353 officers.

Growing political concern is likely over police numbers as recorded crime accelerates further, from a 6% increase recorded in the 12 months to September 2015 to 8% in the year to September 2016 and to 14% in the latest figures.

The increases in knife and gun crime are particularly alarming, with 37,443 recorded knife offences and 6,694 gun offences in the past 12 months.

The rise in the police crime figures compares, however, with a 10% fall in crime as measured by the Crime Survey of England and Wales, partly caused by a reduction of 15% in levels of fraud and online computer misuse offences. The crime survey measures people’s experience of crime, based on 40,000 interviews, but is less effective than the police recorded crime figures in measuring low-volume violent crime.

Mark Bangs, of the Office for National Statistics, said: “These latest [crime survey] figures indicate that levels of crime have continued to fall compared with the previous year, but this picture varied across different types of crime and not all offence types showed falls.

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“While overall levels of violent crime were not increasing, there is evidence of rises having occurred in some of the low-incidence but more harmful categories such as knife and gun crime. The first year-on-year comparisons from new estimates of fraud, one of the most frequently occurring crimes, indicate fewer incidents were experienced by the general population compared with the previous year.”

The increasing levels of gun and knife offences – so-called “high-harm, low-volume” crimes – and accelerating trends in other forms of violent crime, as well as a 36% rise in stalking and harassment and a 29% rise in robbery, will set alarm bells ringing in Downing Street.

The shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, said the rise in recorded crime was “truly shocking and should put an end to government complacency on crime”.



She added: “The Tories are failing in a basic duty to protect the public. They have now cut over 21,000 police officers since 2010, leaving forces across the country understaffed and overstretched. Police numbers are now at their lowest in 30 years. You can’t fight crime on the cheap.”

The home secretary, Amber Rudd, acknowledged the rise in police recorded crime but said much of the increase could be explained by changes in police recording practices and a greater willingness of victims to come forward.

“So far we have seen that crimes measured by the survey – the best measure of crime as it reflects the public’s experience of crime – has fallen since 2010, but we have also seen a rise in police recorded crime over the past few years,” she said.

“The Office for National Statistics is clear that much of it can be explained by significant improvements in police recording practices and more victims having the confidence to come forward, particularly in cases of sexual violence and domestic abuse: both things that I welcome.”