Violent crime goes up by 26% in North Yorkshire. But it’s still safer than anywhere else

Recorded crime has risen by 12% in the last year – with violent offences increasing by 26%.

But there are still fewer crimes here than anywhere else.

Those are the headline figures from the Office of National Statistics’ Crime in England and Wales bulletin. Published today (Thursday) it records crime figures for the year ending September 2019.

What’s gone up

Public order offences, violence and robbery have seen the biggest rises.

Violence against the person has increased 26% (16,056 in total), broken down into:

• Homicide remains unchanged (3 in total)
• Violence with injury has increased 14% (6,067 in total)
• Violence without injury has increased 24% (6,379 in total)
• Stalking and harassment has increased 58% (3,592 in total)
• Death or serious injury – unlawful driving remains unchanged (15 in total)

Sexual offences have increased by 10% (1,999 in total)

Robbery has increased by 20% (235 in total)

Theft offences have increased by 2% (17,353 in total) broken down into:

• Burglary has increased by 10% (4,070 in total, of which 2,521 are recorded as residential burglaries and 1,549 are recorded as non-residential burglaries)
• Theft from the person has increased by 8% (508 in total)
• Shoplifting has increased by 2% (4,620 in total)
• All other theft offences have increased by 4% (4,747 in total)

Criminal damage and arson has increased by 1% (6,020 in total)

Possession of weapons offences has increased by 7% (317 in total)

Public order offences have increased by 44% (2,845 in total)

Miscellaneous crimes against society have increased by 28% (973 in total)

What’s gone down

Vehicle offences have decreased by 9% (2,263 in total)

Bicycle theft has decreased by 3% (1,145 in total)

Drug offences have decreased by 1% (1,570 in total)

‘Not complacent’

North Yorkshire Chief Constable Lisa Winward said, despite the 12% rise in recorded offences, “our county remains the safest place in the country per 1,000 of the population”. She added:

• Our ongoing piece of work to improve how we record crime, and also detect and investigate offences, naturally influences the county’s crime levels.

  However this has been a top priority for the force to ensure victims continue to feel confident about reporting offences to us.

  My thanks go to each and every one of our officers, staff and volunteers for their continuous hard work, our partners whose role is vital in helping us protect people, and members of the public for their support.

  Despite our national position, we are not complacent and our focus is on improving early intervention and prevention across the service to reduce harm in our communities.
  

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan said the increase could partly be explained by “our continued focus on improving how offences are recorded”.

“This does not account for all the increase though, and it is important we all recognise that,” she said.

“Any rise is concerning, and I will be asking the Chief Constable to ensure she is confident her plans address the challenges we are facing.

“I am particularly concerned about the rise in violent crime as this is the sort of offence which causes huge worry in communities across North Yorkshire.”