Police chiefs' respond to latest violent crime and sexual offences statistics

“Evidence from the Crime Survey for England and Wales suggests that there has been no significant change in the number of violent incidents in the year ending March 2015.

“However a drastic improvement in police recording has led to a 23 per cent increase in reports of violence against the person offences. Police recorded crime has seen reductions in the number of homicides and a significant drop in firearms offences since 2004. We have also seen direct correlation between increased victim confidence in recording crime and increases in the number of sexual offences.

"The NPCC Lead for Child Protection Chief Constable Simon Bailey has said that increased confidence of victims to report crimes to the police has resulted in the significant increase in recorded crime but that, as the numbers continue to increase, we need to consider whether more offences are being perpetrated and he is looking at this issue.

“It is extremely encouraging that the gap between the CSEW public survey and the recording of crime by the police continues to narrow.”