Crime statistics released

The 2011/12 Police Service of Northern Ireland Crime Statistics were published today.

 

The statistics are available in full on the PSNI website at www.psni.police.uk  but the key findings are:-

 

1. There were 103,389 recorded crimes - a reduction of 1,651 recorded crimes (-1.6%).
2. The number of crimes recorded is the lowest since the new Home Office counting rules were introduced in 1998/99.
3. The number of victims of sexual offences, robbery, burglary, fraud & forgery and criminal damage have reduced.
4. The number of violence against the person, some theft and drug offences increased.
5. The overall detection (clearance) rate in 2011/12 decreased by 1.0 percentage point from 27.3% in 2010/11 to 26.3% in 2011/12.
6. Reports of domestic abuse increased by 11.1%
7. Reports of hate crimes and incidents decreased across all recorded categories - sectarian, racist, homophobic, transphobic, faith, disabilist.

As with any recorded statistics there is always some good news and some not so good news. It is important to acknowledge that the good news is as a direct result of the community working with their Police Service in their delivery of personal, professional and protective policing.

 

You have my commitment that our determination to continue to tackle crime and deal with those issues that matter most to you will be relentless.

 

In the figures there is a reported reduction of 1% in the detection or clearance rate and this could be easily interpreted as fewer crimes cleared. In fact, whilst we would always aspire to make more detections, this figure does not take into account the additional 3% detected but dealt with by Discretionary disposals, this equates to almost 3,000 disposals for crimes.

 

These are crimes that are comparatively minor by virtue of the impact and/or seriousness and where the victim and offender agree on a suitable form of reparation such as an apology, reparation or some other form of restorative outcome.

 

This may at times appear to some be a 'soft option', but the delivery of a speedy outcome has led to increased satisfaction levels amongst victims of crime. This type of disposal is not currently included in the counting rules, otherwise our detection rate would have been around 29%.

 

Whilst the Police Service of Northern Ireland take some comfort from certain areas of performance, there is absolutely no room for complacency and we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that we continue to tackle serious harm, detect those responsible and keep communities safer.