The latest crime report has been published by the ONS. The Crime Survey for England and Wales is a regular statistical bulletin which gives a picture of crime levels across the country. The data gives insights into which types of crime are falling, and which are on the rise. It’s possible to see long term trends, and consider more recent events. If you love to crunch numbers head over to the ONS website and take a look. Regular blog readers will know we spend some time reading the reports and pouring over the data to help us understand how best to protect our customers.
This latest report is the first complete report since the pandemic; those published since 2020 have all been affected in some way by restrictions. The ONS suggests that this is most comparable to the data ending March 2020. It does also draw comparisons with the report from year ending September 2021. We have also looked at the report ending September 2019 and 2020.
Crime report results
The results are something of a mixed bag. There’s good new and bad in amongst the figures. The good news is that, compared with the last pre pandemic report, total crime has decreased by 10%. The less good news is that compared to the same period last year, there have been increases in a number of areas.
Since the year ending September 2021, police recorded crime has increased by 14% in the year ending September 2022.
ONS
Some of the trends that emerged in lockdown are beginning to recede. This includes the spike in fraud, but also the dip in overall crime. Quarterly data tables also show that incidents of fraud and criminal damage have stabilised.
