howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#1
courtesy of the telegraph.
Burglaries increased by 14% last year while snatch thefts and garden thefts also rose, amid fears that the recession is driving opportunist crime.
There was also a six per cent rise in violence, driven mainly by sharp increases in lower level assaults and domestic violence.
The increases cover the first year of the Coalition, and officials yesterday said that "time will tell" whether overall crime levels are reaching a turning point and could begin to rise again.
Rank and file police leaders and opposition MPs last night said the trend was a "stark warning" at a time when thousands of police officers are facing the axe through spending cuts.
A separate survey, by Victim Support, found a third of victims are not even told whether their crime was solved.
a total of 745,000 burglaries were committed in 2010/11, according to the Home Office's British Crime Survey (BCS), equivalent to a 14 per cent increase on the previous year and the highest level since 2003/04.
Overall, one in 40 households was the target of a break-in or attempted break-in last year.
Snatch thefts, such as unattended mobile phones or wallets also increased by 14 per cent to 73,000 offences.
Separate police recorded crimes also showed a 10 per cent increase in so-called "other theft" offences, which also includes thefts from gardens.
However, the number of burglaries recorded by the police fell by four per cent over the same period, suggesting many victims are not bothering to report break-ins.
The BCS is based on interviews with more than 45,000 households and is seen as a more accurate reflection of crime trends.