Police provide peaceful Christmas and New Year

Date published: 03/01/2008

Greater Manchester Police and their partners against crime reversed the annual trend of a rise in the number of burglaries, robberies, vehicle crimes and violence against the person in the lead up to Christmas and New Year in 2007.

Crime in Greater Manchester for November and December 2007 was 11.5% down compared to the same period in 2006.

This equates to 6,467 fewer victims of crime this Christmas.

Assistant Chief Constable Dave Thompson from Greater Manchester Police said: "We were committed to giving the people of Greater Manchester as peaceful and crime-free Christmas and New Year period as possible in 2007. I am delighted that latest figures show that we achieved considerable success in this."  

The figures reflect the decrease in crime in the current financial year, which show more than a 10% decrease between April and December 2007 when compared to the same nine months in 2006; meaning 25,316 fewer victims of crime.

Figures for the two-month period up to the end of 2007 when compared to the same period in the previous year show:

• Burglary down 10.8 per cent, meaning 461 fewer victims
• Robbery down 17.0 per cent, meaning 251 fewer victims
• Vehicle crime down 22.7 per cent, meaning 2,169 fewer victims
• Violence against the person down 4.6 per cent, meaning 249 fewer victims

These decreases in crime occurred not only in the weeks leading up to Christmas but also throughout the current financial year.

Assistant Chief Constable Thompson continued: "GMP officers, staff and our partners have worked hard over the last year to keep crime down, and being able to continue this trend into the festive period has been the cherry on the cake.

"These results are particularly praiseworthy as the run up to Christmas is traditionally an active period for criminals.

"We have ensured that criminals had an unproductive 2007 and will be working hard to ensure that this continues in the New Year."