Yahoo News Crime across England and Wales has risen to highest level in a decade
Crime across England and Wales has risen by 10 percent – the largest annual increase for a decade.
The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics, which account for the 12 months to March, show a 20 percent rise in gun crime and knife crime.
A 26 percent rise in the murder rate to 723 homicides has also been recorded – with the figure accounting for the 96 cases of manslaughter recorded at Hillsborough in 1989.
The substantial rise comes as Home Office figures reveal that the number of police officers in the UK is continuing to fall. In the last year alone, it fell by 924 – bringing the number of police officers to 123, 142 in England and Wales.
The figure is the lowest number of officers in England and Wales since 1985.
The nature of crime has also been singled out – with violent crimes showing a significant rise. Last year, gun related offences rose by 23 percent, while knife crime spike by 20 percent at 34,703 incidents.
In May, 20-year-old Montana Abdhou was gunned down by a gang as she stood talking with friends in Kilburn, North-West London, with her death coming only days after a brutal spree that saw 11 Londoners being stabbed to death in 16 days.
An increase in the number of robberies at knife point was also documented, with the figure raising to nearly 13,000 incidents.
John Flatley, the head of crime statistics and analysis at the ONS said: ‘The latest figures show the largest annual rise in crimes recorded by the police in a decade. While ongoing improvements to recording practices are driving this volume rise, we believe actual increases in crime are also a factor in a number of categories.
‘Some of the increases recorded by the police are in the low-volume, but high-harm, offences such as homicide and knife crime that the crime survey is not designed to measure.
MORE: Police ‘used helicopters to film people having sex and sunbathing naked’
MORE: Police launch appeal to find the mother of baby girl abandoned at bus stop
‘If the increases in burglary and vehicle theft recorded by the police continue we would expect these to show up in the survey in due course. We will continue to monitor these trends and investigate the factors driving any changes.’
