Half of north west crimes took place in Greater Manchester

Crime

Almost half of all crimes reported in the north west occurred in Greater Manchester, the latest figures show.

The stats from the Office for National Statistics show 335,488 crimes were recorded in region between December 2016 and December 2017 - 49% of the whole of the north west. 

More crimes took place in Greater Manchester (335,488) than any other region except London’s Metropolitan borough (809,049).

In the north west, Greater Manchester had the highest rates for all recorded crimes except drug offences, which were highest in Merseyside:

• Volence against the person – 91,506 (53% increase)
• Homicide – 79 (46% increase)
• Violence with injury – 27,525 (26% increase)
• Violence without injury – 44,309 (67% increase)
• Stalking and harassment – 19,558 (75% increase)
• Death or serious injury, unlawful driving – 35
• Sexual offences – 9,131 (44% increase)
• Robbery – 6,469 (55% increase)
• Theft offences – 124,285 (13% increase)
• Burglary – 32,944 (13% increase)
• Domestic burglary – 22,876
• Non-domestic burglary – 10,068
• Vehicle offences – 30,850 (27% increase)
• Theft from the person – 6,463 (1% decrease)
• Bicycle theft – 4,570
• Shoplifting – 17,839 (3% increase)
• Other theft offences – 31,619 (12% increase)
• Criminal damage and arson – 41,333 (14% increase)
• Possession of weapons offences – 2,585 (61% increase)
• Public order offences – 47,912 (155% increase)
• Miscellaneous crimes against society – 7,545 (70% increase)
• Drug offences – 4,722 (14% increase)

Across England, 4,522,079 crimes were recorded by the police, a 15% increase on the previous year.

GMP Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: “Today’s crime figures show what we have all known for some time – that crime has gone up across all areas of policing.

“While there is no single reason for this, it is true to say that new ways of recording crime and data integrity accounts for around half of this increase.

“We all know that crime is far more complex than in the past, partly due to the internet and digital technology, as well as the changing nature of crime with offences such as online child sexual exploitation and modern slavery - sadly a common occurrence. Our attendance at incidents is getting longer because of the complexity and the necessity to capture information to safeguard people and better record crimes. On average we spend 40 minutes longer at an incident that we did five years ago.

“Alongside this of course we have lost 2,000 police officers in recent years. This means that, for the first time, the public are starting to see and feel the impact of a reduction in numbers in terms of our response times to non-emergency incidents and the level of investigations we can conduct. Quite simply we are having to prioritise those incidents where the greatest harm is caused more than ever before.

"While this is an undoubtedly challenging set of circumstances for us we are working ever more closely with other agencies, voluntary groups and communities  at the local level, to help ensure people receive support from the right service. The reform of our public services across Greater Manchester through better integration is key to reducing crime and keeping our neighbourhoods safe.

“This means we are intervening and supporting vulnerable people and families as early as possible to ensure problems are dealt with before they even reach the emergency services.

“GMP officers have been given a number of tools to help them deal with incidents, including body worn video and mobile technology to allow them to work more in our communities. Soon we will be getting mobile fingerprint identification and creating better online access to our services for the public."