Crime and violence continues to fall
Crime continues to fall in Warwickshire, and violence down too
The chances of being a victim of crime in Warwickshire have fallen, according to figures published today, with recorded crime down by more than 6% compared to last year.
Warwickshire is already one of the safest places to live in the country, with a crime rate of 89 per 1000 population as opposed to a national average of 108 per 1000 population.
In the second quarter of the year (July to September 2004), the total number of crimes recorded by police was 11,002, compared to 11,720 during the same period last year (- 6.13%). The first quarter of the year (April to June 2004) had already seen a 6.65% reduction in crime.
This means that between July and September 2004, only 23 crimes were recorded for every 1000 people living in the county.
Violent crime was reduced by 12.19% with 1,822 crimes recorded, including serious and less serious offences - there were 3.5 violent crimes per 1000 population.
Of the categories that make up violent crime, sexual offences were down by 6.19% from 113 to 106, robbery was down by 6.9% from 116 to 108 and less serious violence against the person reduced by 14.19% from 1797 to 1542 offences. Due to the small numbers involved, a slight increase in the category wounding and other act endangering life, from 35 to 38 offences (+ 8.5%) and the rise in homicides and attempts, from 14 to 28 offences (+ 100%), means that more serious violent crime rose by 34.69% - equivalent to 17 additional offences.
The majority of the increase in the category homicides and attempts was due to a rise in threats to kill from 14 last year to 24 this year. There were no murders, one attempted murder, and three offences of causing death by dangerous driving recorded during the period. (These last three offences relate to two RTCs - one in December 2003 on the M6 near Bedworth, in which two people died, and one in February 2004 when an elderly pedestrian died after being in collision with a vehicle in Warwick Road, Kenilworth. Due to the nature of road traffic investigations, these were not recorded as crimes until the second quarter of the year.)
The force has prioritised reducing access to drugs in Warwickshire through targeting those who deal in heroin and cocaine, and this appears to be paying off with a 39.89% reduction in drug offences recorded, from 376 to 226. This is crucial to overall crime reduction in the county, as the majority of acquisitive crime is committed to fund drug misuse.
Householders were also less likely to be burgled, with a reduction of 16.77% (from 817 to 680 burglaries), and burglary of businesses and other premises was also down, by 16.56% (from 1117 to 932). Reductions were also achieved in other theft and handling offences (-4.01%, from 2741 to 2631), which includes offences such as shop lifting, and fraud and forgery (down 17.05%, from 616 to 511), including offences such as credit card fraud.
After a significant reduction in vehicle crime the previous year (-18.55% compared to the same period of 2003/03), these offences took an upward turn, rising by 8.34%, or 139 offences, but at 1805 offences recorded, the number was still lower than the 2002/3 figure of 2049. And by December 2004, the force recorded the lowest monthly figure for vehicle crime for three years, at 494 offences for the month compared with 703 in December 2003, bringing overall vehicle crime for the year to date down by 3.13% across the county.
There are currently no items in this folder.
