The Office of National Statistics’ (ONS) have released figures for Crime in England and Wales for year ending September 2017.
It shows there were a total of 37,573 crimes in North Yorkshire during the 12-month period, giving a crime rate of 46.2 per 1,000 of the population.
This reflects an overall 1% increase in crime in comparison to the same period the previous year.
Crime rates can be misleading and the ONS urge that they are interpreted with caution. The figures are also a measure on the performance of the police in detecting and tackling crime, as much as the overall crime being committed. Domestic burglary can be considered a crime trend indicator and this has shown an increase.
Broken down into the main crime categories, the ONS figures for North Yorkshire show:
- Domestic burglary – 1,755 a 19% increase
- Non-domestic burglary – 1,861 a 22% decrease.
- Drug offences – 1,482 a 11% decrease
- Violence and against the person – 10,091 increased by 8%
- Possession of weapons offences – 219 up by 7%
- Robbery -1 65 an increased of 19%
- Theft offences – 16,076, down by 5%
- Theft from the person 409, down by 19%
- Bicycle theft -1,176 down by 19%
- Shoplifting – 4,432 increased by 7%
- All other theft offences – 4,300 down 6%
- Criminal damage and arson – 5,873 up by 2%
- Vehicle Offences – 2,164, down by 9%
- Sexual offences – 1,463, up by 11%
- Public order offences – 1,447 up by 9%
- Miscellaneous crimes against society, which includes the possession and publication of extreme sexual images, increased by 19% with 757 crimes in total
Deputy Chief Constable Lisa Winward said:
North Yorkshire Police and our community partners work extremely hard to keep our area as safe and secure as possible.
We do this to maintain the high quality-of-life for our residents and businesses, as well as for the many thousands of visitors who come here all year round. Our Neighbourhood Policing Teams across North Yorkshire and the City of York play an integral role in the communities they are proud to serve.
North Yorkshire Police is also keeping a very tight grip on cross-border crime, with our well-established proactive policing approach continuing to intercept and disrupt suspected offenders at all times of the day. The recently established Operational Support Unit, which encompasses the previous Road Crime Team, will ensure there will be no let-up in taking the fight to those who intend to inflict misery in our area.
I again thank our officers, PCSOs, Special Constables, police staff and volunteers for everything they do to keep people safe.
Julia Mulligan, elected Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, said:
It’s good that North Yorkshire is bucking the national trend, and I thank the police for their hard work. However, there are some issues behind the numbers released today, in particular domestic burglary, which the public have as a top priority. It is absolutely right that the police focus on protecting vulnerable people and serious crimes, but we do need to ensure issues such as burglary remain a priority, changes in recording notwithstanding. For example, I recently conducted a ‘deep dive’ into how North Yorkshire Police responds to burglary, which revealed some good work but also areas for improvement, which I am pursuing with the Chief Constable.
It is also reassuring to see a number of offences reducing, such as drug crime and theft. With drugs in particular, there has been a great deal of good work done and progress made.
And finally, I would like to thank the officers and staff of North Yorkshire Police who work so hard to keep us safe. There are challenges but I have every confidence that they are taken seriously and will be tackled effectively.
