Data also shows a rise in bank and credit card fraud
The incidents of crime across England and Wales has reportedly been increasing with the latest figures showing a 13 per cent rise in all police-recorded offences. The data showed an even greater increase in violent offences including knife crime, sex offences and violence against the person.
According to Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of crimes recorded annually has passed the 5m mark for the first time in 10 years, after the crimes were up from 4.6m the previous year.
The data also revealed a rise in bank and credit card fraud, with UK Finance reporting a 3% rise in the volume of fraudulent transactions.
John Flatley of ONS said today: “Today’s figures suggest that the police are dealing with a growing volume of crime. While improvements made by police forces in recording crime are still a factor in the increase, we judge that there have been genuine increases in crime – particularly in some of the low-incidence but more harmful categories.
“Police figures cannot provide a good measure of all crime in society, since we know that a large volume of it never comes to their attention. The recent increases in recorded crime need to be seen in the context of the overall decline in crime indicated by the Crime Survey for England and Wales,” he said.
The survey, which includes crimes that people do not report to police, is the largest annual rise in a decade. The ONS has attributed this change to more victims coming forward to police improving recording practices, following a 2014 inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary which “identified significant under-recording” of crimes.
Talking about the rise in crime rates, the shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said: “The Tories can no longer hide behind claims that crime is falling to justify their severe cuts to the police.
“They have left our communities exposed, with police numbers the lowest on record at a time when forces are under unprecedented pressure from surging crime, an ongoing terror threat, and from covering for cuts to other services,” Abbott added.
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