Shropshire Star

Crime figures: 'We can do more' says West Mercia police and crime commissioner

West Mercia's new police and crime commissioner has admitted there is "a lot more" police can do to make people safer – as new crime statistics revealed reported crimes had rocketed in the force area.

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Recorded crimes were released as part of the national Crime Survey for England and Wales.

The survey, compiled by the Office for National Statistics, claimed crime nationally had fallen by six per cent in the past year.

Police said today the figures did not necessarily indicate crime was on the rise in Shropshire, but that it indicated a rise in people reporting to police.

John Campion, West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner, said they were a positive sign that systems put in place to help people report crimes more easily were working.

"Today's official figures show crime has reduced by six per cent in the last year," Mr Campion said.

"On top of this we are also seeing more victims in West Mercia empowered and willing to report crimes to the police, and the force is providing a better service in how it records incidents.

"This is all good progress."

Mr Campion, who succeeded Bill Longmore following elections earlier this year, said he intended to unveil precise plans for a "safer West Mercia" in the imminent future.

There were 72,637 crimes logged in West Mercia in the 12 months up to the end of March this year.

It is up significantly on the 60,673 reported from April 2014 up to March last year.

Mr Campion said processes to help people report crime more easily had significantly improved.

But he added: "There is a lot more we can do to create more secure, more reassured local communities.

"Knowing and understanding our communities better is key to continuing to drive down real crime and take areas that are already comparatively safe and make them even safer.

"I will make sure community voices are heard to ensure our priorities are right at a grass roots level, while retaining a focus on pressing regional and national issues.

"My precise plans for a safer West Mercia will be outlined in due course."

Homicide rates nationally in the year to March were among the highest in the last five years, the new figures show.

In those 12 months, police in England and Wales recorded 571 cases in the category – which includes murder, manslaughter, corporate manslaughter and infanticide.

This is 34 more than in the previous year – a six per cent increase.

The Office for National Statistics said: "This is among the highest number of homicides recorded in any 12-month period over the last five years, however, over the longer term, there has been a general downward trend in recorded homicides."

In the West Mercia force area there were 10 homicides recorded in 2015/16. The figures showed a difference to the national picture, with the total down from 13 the year before it. The survey, compiled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), said nearly six million fraud and cyber crimes are committed every year, with one in 10 people falling victim to scams.

Questions on the two categories were added to the Crime Survey for England and Wales for the first time from October. No local breakdown of figures was made available.

Early findings showed about 3.8 million fraud and two million computer misuse offences experienced by victims in the year before interview.

These figures are separate from the main crime count drawn from the survey, which showed 6.3 million incidents against adults in the year ending in March – a six per cent fall.

  • MORE: West Mercia Police crime figures up 20 per cent on last year

Statisticians said the estimates indicate that one in 10 adults was a victim of at least one fraud or computer misuse offence in the last year. Fraud is now the most common crime likely to be experienced by the general population.

People are 20 times more likely to be a victim of fraud than robbery, and 10 times more likely to suffer fraud than theft, the survey suggests.

John Flatley, of the ONS, said: "Together, these offences are similar in magnitude to the existing headline figures covering all other crime survey offences.

"However, it would be wrong to conclude that actual crime levels have doubled, since the survey previously did not cover these offences."

Around two-thirds of the two million computer misuse incidents involved a computer virus, while the remaining 600,000 were related to "unauthorised access to personal information", including hacking.

The most common types of fraud were bank and credit account fraud, with 2.5 million incidents, followed by "non-investment" fraud, such as scams related to online shopping.

Almost two-thirds of fraud incidents involved loss of money or goods to the victim.

Where money was taken or stolen, in just under two-thirds of instances the victim lost less than £250.

Compared with other types of crime, the likelihood of being a victim of fraud is relatively evenly distributed across different groups in society, said Mark Bangs, deputy head of crime statistics at the ONS.

He added: "For example, those living in rural areas were just as likely to be a victim of fraud as those living in urban areas.

"Similarly, people living in the most deprived areas were no more likely to be victims than those in the least deprived areas."

Shadow policing minister Jack Dromey said the figures "shine a light on the true scale of crime in this country".

He said: "Crime is not falling, crime is changing. You are more likely now to be mugged online than in the street."

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