1998 1999 - Nationalarchives.gov.uk

4. POLICE FORCE AREAS (TABLES 2, 3, 4, 5; FIGURES 5, 6)
(a) Twenty nine of the forty three police forces in England and Wales had an
underlying reduction between 1997/98 and 1998/99 in the total number of crimes
recorded; during the previous financial year 41 force areas recorded fewer crimes.
(b) Metropolitan forces (see note 4) recorded 0.8 per cent more crimes in
1998/99 than in 1997/98 whilst the non-metropolitan forces recorded 3.1 per cent
fewer crimes. Ten years ago, approximately the same number of crimes were
recorded in metropolitan areas as in non-metropolitan areas. However, since
1988/89 the proportion of crime recorded by metropolitan forces has fallen to 45.4
per cent of the total. This follows increases in total recorded crime over the ten year
period of 11.4 per cent in metropolitan areas and 31.4 per cent in non-metropolitan
areas. There has been a small shift in resident population from metropolitan to nonmetropolitan
areas, but this has been insufficient to explain the larger falls in crime.
(c) Of the metropolitan forces, four showed underlying trend falls. The largest fall
was 1.4 per cent in Northumbria, and is the only force to have recorded seven
consecutive financial year falls. The City of London force showed the largest
increase; however the 17.5 per cent rise in this force was dwarfed by the underlying
1.3 per cent fall in the surrounding Metropolitan Police District.
(d) Changes in non-metropolitan areas ranged from a decrease of 10 per cent in
Lancashire, to an increase of 5 per cent in Thames Valley. Nine non-metropolitan
forces recorded decreases of over 5 per cent.
(e) The number of offences recorded in each police force area per 100,000
resident population is shown in Table 2. The forces with the highest recorded crime
rates are mainly the metropolitan police force areas and other forces which include
large conurbations; the lowest rates are mainly in rural areas.
(f) The highest rate was in Humberside with 14,800 offences per 100,000
population, followed by Greater Manchester (14,100), Nottinghamshire (13,100) and
West Yorkshire (13,000). In contrast, the lowest rates were in Dyfed-Powys (5,100),
Surrey (5,400) and Hertfordshire (5,700).
(g) Some of the differences between police force areas in the rates of recorded
crime may be due to extraneous factors. These factors include the victims of crimes
recorded in a police force area not living in that area (particularly so in metropolitan
areas), together with differing reporting rates of offences to the police and recording
practices within police force areas.
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