1998 1999 - Nationalarchives.gov.uk

(a) A number of changes to the way that the police count and record crimes took
effect on 1 April 1998. Full details of these changes, together with their effect on the
notifiable offence categories, are given in Annex A. Where trends are discussed in
this bulletin, we have calculated the underlying trend where the effect of the counting
rule and coverage changes has been removed (i.e. comparisons are made on the ‘old
rules’ basis).
(b) The collective term “Recorded Crime” refers to notifiable offences recorded by
the police (see also note 1 on page 24). These offences cover a wide range of
crimes, from homicides to minor thefts and damage. It is essential that when different
offences are combined, the seriousness of the component crimes is borne in mind.
(c) In the twelve months ending March 1999, a total of 5.1 million offences were
recorded by the police in England and Wales. The trend in recorded offences shows
a 1.4 per cent reduction compared to the previous twelve months, and this represents
the sixth consecutive fall in the financial year figures.
(d) The majority of crimes were property offences (burglary, theft, fraud and
forgery, criminal damage). These offences accounted for 4.3 million or 84 per cent of
all recorded crime, and include 1,078,000 thefts of and from vehicles and 473,000
domestic burglaries.
(e) Violent crimes (violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery)
accounted for 12 per cent (605,800) of all offences recorded during this period. Of the
502,800 offences of violence against the person, 151,500 were common assaults,
which are now covered by the new counting rules.
(f) Of the remaining 199,600 other notifiable offences, 135,900 were drug related,
18,600 were public order offences, and 9,300 involved perverting the course of justice.
2. PROPERTY OFFENCES (TABLES A, 3, 6; FIGURES 1, 2, 3)
(a) The number of property offences fell by 1.1 per cent, with 4.3 million offences
recorded during 1998/99. This is the sixth consecutive financial year decrease in
property offences, which have fallen from a record number of 5.3 million during
1992/93.
(b) There were decreases in many offence groups within property crime; however
fraud and forgery, arson, and the theft from the person groups showed large
increases.
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