News story

Crime is down

Latest independent statistics show crime continues to fall.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

New independent crime statistics show that crime is falling across England and Wales.

The figures show that in the year ending December 2012 recorded crime and offending captured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales were both down on the previous year.

Crime Prevention Minister Jeremy Browne said:

Crime continues to fall - recorded crime is down by more than 10% under this Government and the independent survey shows crime is at its lowest level since records began.

It is particularly encouraging that this downward trend is replicated across every police force in England and Wales. They have shown an impressive ability to accommodate necessary budget reductions whilst still cutting crime.

This shows our reforms are working. We have swept away central targets, reduced bureaucracy and the police should be congratulated for rising to the challenge of doing more with less.

England and Wales are safer than they have been for decades. We will continue to work hard to tackle crime and its underlying causes.

Statistics released by the Office for National Statistics today show recorded crime has fallen again in the last year with drops in violence, sexual offences, homicides, drug crime, offences involving knives and firearms, burglary and criminal damage.

Read our infographic on crime statistics

Updates to this page

Published 25 April 2013