"Crime falling thanks to the efforts of criminal justice partners and refusal by the public to accept criminal behaviour" - National Policing Lead for Crime and Statistics

National Policing Lead for Crime and Statistics, Temporary Chief Constable Jeff Farrar, said: “It is pleasing that the number of crimes reported to the British Crime Survey have fallen by seven per cent this year. Together with the five per cent fall in police recorded crime it begins to paint a picture that crime is genuinely falling across the country thanks to the joint efforts of our criminal justice partners and the refusal by the public to accept criminal behaviour.

“It also represents a small but welcome step toward the convergence of the number of crimes being reported to the BCS and to police, indicating that the number of reported crimes is more accurately reflecting the actual number of crimes being committed across the country.

“Criminals are continually adopting more sophisticated tactics and moving towards online-based crime; with the police service introducing of a more efficient centralised crime recording system, enabling the forces to focus resources on tackling fraud more effectively. This move to centralised recording is likely to be responsible in part for the 21 per cent increase in fraud offences recorded during the year ending June 2013 compared to the same period in 2012

“We’ve also seen a nine per cent rise in sexual offences, many of these being historic offences having been recorded in the wake of the last year’s revelations about Jimmy Savile, but not all related. While it is awful that victims have suffered in silence for so long, it is encouraging that so many people now feel confident enough to come forward. We would encourage anyone who has suffered abuse as a child to report it, if anything to have their voice heard, to have it on record and to be offered support for what they have been through.

“Chief officers around the country continue to do more with less while faced with further reductions to their budgets. We accept however, that there is always room for improvement and it is through the dedication of officers across the forces in England and Wales that we strive to continue lowering these figures year on year.

“Tributes should be especially paid to frontline officers and support staff who work relentlessly to bring offenders to justice and keep communities safe from those who would cause them harm.”

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ACPO Press Office
Association of Chief Police Officers
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