Estimated crimes in UK hit 32-year low
Crime is falling in Britain, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
The downward trend in crime numbers continued last year, with the police recording 3.7m offences in the year ending September 2013 – that's three per cent down on a year earlier.
Household crime dropped by 10 per cent in the year to September 2013 and personal crime fell nine per cent.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated that there were 8m crimes against households and residents over the 12 months – down 10 per cent compared with the previous year’s survey – the lowest estimate over the history of the survey, which began in 1981.
Sexual offences recorded by the police leapt by 17 per cent. But this large increase has been put down to the ‘Yewtree effect’ – more people coming forward to report historical sexual offences.
Most crime categories recorded by the police saw decreases, although both shoplifting and theft from a person went up by seven per cent in 2013.