1998 1999 - Nationalarchives.gov.uk

Figure 6 NOTIFIABLE OFFENCES IN METROPOLITAN AND
3,500,000
3,000,000
2,500,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
500,000
0
NON-METROPOLITAN POLICE FORCE AREAS
Metropolitan
forces
Non-Metropolitan
forces
1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
12 months ending March
5. OFFENCES CLEARED UP (TABLES B, 5, 6; FIGURE 7)
(a) The introduction of the new counting rules and offence coverage on 1 April
1998 had a knock-on effect on the number of crimes detected by the police during the
year. A number of the newly notifiable offences, such as drug possession, common
assault, and dangerous driving have relatively high clear-up rates which have
increased the overall clear-up rate. However, all offences of criminal damage are now
included within the clear-up rate; previously offences where the damage was valued
at £20 or under were excluded. This will have reduced the overall clear-up rate.
(b) It has not been possible to obtain accurate figures for 1998/99 clear-ups on the
old rules basis. Therefore, all trend comparisons in this section do not exclude the
effects of the new counting rules.
(c) The proportion of offences cleared up during 1998/99 – at 29 per cent – was 1
percentage point higher than during 1997/98. The total number of offences cleared up
at 1,492,300 was 240,600 higher than during the previous financial year.
(d) A high proportion of violent crimes are cleared up. Overall, 66 per cent of
violent crime was cleared up during 1998/99; however this is a reduction of 3
percentage points since 1997/98. Within this total figure, offences of violence against
the person and sexual offences had clear-up rates of 71 and 68 per cent respectively.
The rate for robbery was 23 per cent.
9