Latest News

Latest News

Crime in England and Wales 2008/09 - West Midlands News Release

The latest National Statistics on crime in England and Wales produced by the Home Office are released today (16 July 2009). They are based on results from the British Crime Survey (BCS) and crimes recorded by the police for the financial year 2008/09. Each source has different strengths and weaknesses but together they provide a more comprehensive picture of crime than could be obtained from either series alone.

Key findings for the West Midlands region are outlined below.

Changes between 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 by crime type

The BCS and police recorded crime have tended to track each other reasonably well in recent years. However, as in previous years, there have been some differences between the sources and these differences can be more marked at a regional level. 13

Police Recorded Crime

13 For the crime types it covers, the BCS provides a more reliable measure of trends in crime as it has a consistent methodology and is unaffected by changes of reporting to the police, recording practice or police activity. 

BCS

Knife Crime

• The police recorded 4,649 offences involving knives in 2008/2009, accounting for seven per cent of selected serious violent offences. 14 The number or recorded robbery offences involving knives increased by 7%, from 1,995 in 07/08 to 2,128 in 08/09  

Anti-social behaviour

• Sixteen per cent of adults had a high level of perceived anti-social behaviour overall, which was not significantly different from England and Wales overall.
• Twenty-four per cent of adults perceived drunk and rowdy behaviour as a problem in the area and 29% of adults perceived drug use or dealing as a problem in the area, both of which were not significantly different from England and Wales overall.
• All three perception measures remained stable between 2007/08 and 2008/09.

Confidence in police and local agencies

• Forty-eight per cent of adults agreed that the police and local councils were dealing with anti-social behaviour and crime issues that matter in the loacal area. 15
• One of the four police forces in the region (Warwickshire) recorded a lower proportion of adults who agreed that the police and local councils were dealing with the anti-social behaviour and crime issues that matter locally than the average for England and Wales overall.

14. Since April 2007 the Home Office has collected additional statistics from police forces on certain serious violent offences involving the use of a knife or sharp instrument. A sharp instrument is any object that pierces the skin (or in the case of a threat, is capable of piercing the skin), e.g. a broken bottle.’ Due to changes in the selected offences, definitional changes and small numbers of offences at regional level comparisons between 07/08 and 08/09 are possible only for robbery. Selected offences include attempted murder, wounding with intent to GBH, wounding or inflicting GBH and robbery.
15. This measure forms the basis of targets set by the Home Secretary for each police force to improve the level of public confidence.  Trend figures for this measure are not yet available at regional or police force level as the question was introduced in the middle of the 2007/08 survey year. The baseline for force targets is BCS interviews in the 12 months to September 2008. Data for September 2009, including trend analysis, will be published in January 2010.