News Release
New quarter brings new crime falls
Dated: 15 Jul 2009
Crime in Northumbria continued to fall in the first quarter of the financial year, as new Home Office statistics show police satisfaction levels in the region are higher than the national average.
The force's latest figures show crime is continuing to fall, with overall crime between April and June falling by almost 11% compared to the same period last year, down to 24,672 offences from 27,673 offences.
Violent crime is down over 9% to 4,946 offences compared to 5,457 for the first quarter of last year. In real terms this means almost 500 fewer victims.
And the force's tough approach to knife crime meant a 14.7% fall in the number of serious offences involving a knife.
In the first quarter of 2008/09, April to June, there were 204 recorded violent offences involving knives or other sharp instruments, which dropped to 174 in the first quarter of 2009/10, a decrease of 14.7% or 30 fewer victims.
The serious knife crime figures use a new reporting system being utilised by the Home Office for the first time this year and include a variety of additional serious offences involving a knife or sharp instrument that have not been grouped together before, such as threats to kill and less serious assaults.
Also in the first quarter vehicle crime was down by almost 20%, while burglaries fell over 14% and serious acquisitive crime, the focus of the current forcewide campaign, fell 17.5%.
Drug crime rose by 11%, with the rise being put down to ongoing enforcement activity tackling the drug trade.
The latest statistics build on the force's annual figures, published in April, which showed yet another annual drop in total crime - down to 105,458 for 2008/09 compared to 109,213 the previous year, a 4% reduction. In real terms this means almost 4,000 fewer victims of crime across the region.
Today the Home Office released annual crime statistics for every force in England and Wales, along with results from the British Crime Survey, which showed 55% of people in the region agreed police and local councils were dealing with anti-social behaviour and crime issues that matter - a figure 9% higher than the national average.
"These are very positive first quarter results and good news both for the police and the public in the north east," said Chief Constable Mike Craik.
"We are listening to our communities and responding to what they tell us are their priorities and this approach is paying off.
"It was important we did not rest on our laurels after a successful year and the recent high profile work of the Total Policing Task Force shows there are still organised criminals operating which we will not tolerate.
"As ever this was a real team effort. Without the continuing dedication of the Northumbria Police workforce, Northumbria Police Authority's help and support in providing us with the resources we need to do the job, our partners across the region and most importantly, the people in our communities who back their local police force, this ongoing reduction would not have been possible.
"As you can see we are doing all we can to continue this trend to make our neighbourhoods even safer."