There have been “small but genuine” increases in murder and other violent crimes, including 13%-14% increases in gun and knife crime in 2016, according to the latest police-recorded crime figures.
The Office for National Statistics said the police data showed a 9% rise in overall crime in 2016, but that had to be viewed alongside the more authoritative crime survey of England and Wales, which showed an apparent 5% fall over the same period.
These figures do, however, show an increase in violent crime, with a 10% rise in robberies, a 35% increase in public order offences and a 12% rise in sexual offences, including rapes.
The English and Welsh police figures include an apparently alarming 21% rise in the number of murders, up 121 to 697, but the figures include 96 cases of manslaughter at Hillsborough in 1989. Once those are excluded the increase is much lower, at 4%.
The police data also shows a 19% rise in offences involving violence against the person, but the statisticians say 40% of the increase is accounted for by the inclusion of certain types of harassment offences for the first time.
The ONS says the police figures show “small but genuine increases in some types of high-harm but small-volume violent crime”.
They include a 13% increase in gun crime to 5,864 incidents, driven by greater criminal use of handguns and shotguns. These figures are confirmed by ambulance response records.
The police figures also show a similar 14% rise in knife crime, with improvements in police-recording practices contributing to the increase.
“There were also small increases in some offences where recording practices are less likely to have been a driving factor,” the ONS said. “For example, it is likely that recent rises in burglary and robbery reflect some genuine increases in crime. However, these recent increases should be seen in the context of substantial falls in such crime over the longer-term.”
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