Violent crime surges by a FIFTH to record 2.1million offences
Number of crimes recorded by police hit record 6.6million in 2022: Violent offences surge by a FIFTH on pre-Covid levels to 2.1 million, sex crimes rise by 19% to 189,731 with threats to kill using a knife up by 22%
- The ONS said the 6,595,116 crimes recorded by police in 2022 was a new record
- Meanwhile, the number of criminals brought to justice remained sluggishly low
Violent crime has surged by a fifth to a record 2.1million offences, as the total number of crimes logged by police hit 6.6million in a year for the first time.
Recorded crime data published by the Office for National Statistics today 2,069,836 ‘violence against the person’ offences in the year to December.
The figure, covering England and Wales, was up 20 per cent compared with pre-Covid levels and up 5 per cent year-on-year.
Sex offences also hit a new high, with 189,731 logged by forces, up 19 per cent on pre-Covid levels. This included a 17 per cent increase in reported rapes.
An ONS spokesman said the 6,595,116 crimes recorded by police in 2022 was a record.
The total number of crimes logged by police has hit 6.6million in a year for the first time. Pictured: A graph showing the number of crimes reported to the police every quarter
Violent crime has surged by a fifth to a record 2.1million offences, according official ONS statistics (file photo)
The previous peak was 6.23million in the year to March 2022, although this included part of the same period covered by today’s data.
Before that, the peak was 6.01million in 2003-04.
However, the government’s preferred measure of crime – the Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) – suggested violent crime was static at 1.1million offences over the year.
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The ONS suggests that police-recorded crime ‘does not provide reliable trends’ in crime levels.
CSEW data, based on interviews with members of the public and extrapolated to give a national picture, suggested overall crime was down 12 per cent compared with pre-pandemic levels to 9million offences.
Meanwhile, the number of criminals brought to justice remained sluggishly low.
The proportion of crimes which led to a suspect being charged or summonsed was just 5.6 per cent, roughly the same as the previous year.
But there were early signs of progress amid efforts to improve the charge rate for sex crimes.
The proportion of rape allegations which led to a charge increased slightly to 1.9 per cent, up from 1.3 per cent in the previous year.
For all types of sex crime it was 3.5 per cent, up from 2.9 per cent.
Ministers launched an action plan to improve rape prosecutions in summer 2021, pledging to restore the rape charge rate to at least the level seen in 2016, when it stood at 7 per cent.
The recorded crime data revealed imitation firearms are now the main type of weapon used in gun crime in England and Wales.
Police logged 6,193 gun crimes last year, down 5 per cent on pre-Covid levels but up 11 per cent year-on-year.
The increase is ‘largely attributed to an increase in imitation firearms’, the ONS said.
Imitation firearms are unable to shoot ammunition but are often realistic enough to instil fear in victims.
Police recorded 2,196 crimes involving imitation firearms last year, up 49 per cent on pre-Covid levels seen in the year to March 2020.
Imitation firearms accounted for 35 per cent of gun crime last year, ahead of handguns at 31 per cent.
Knife crime was down 9 per cent on pre-pandemic levels to 49,265 offences, but the total included a rise in threats to kill made using knives.
This category jumped 22 per cent compared with the year to March 2020, to 5,942 offences.
In the 12 months to March 2020, 4,861 offences were recorded.
The ONS said figures for recorded crime excluded data from Devon and Cornwall Police because of problems with the force’s new computer system.
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