Criminal charges fall despite rise in crime

The number of criminal charges in Greater Manchester has fallen, despite more crimes being recorded for the same time period

The number of criminal charges in Greater Manchester has fallen, despite more crimes being recorded for the same time period.

In the last three years, recorded crime has risen by 34%, with 267,500 crimes recorded in 2016/17. For the same time period, charges fell by 32%, with just 23,100 charges in the last year.

Nationally, recorded crime has risen by 21%, whilst charges have fallen by 11%.

Charges for drug offences locally have fallen by 52% in the last three years, whilst the smallest decrease applied to sex offences.

The BBC says that crimes recorded across England and Wales has risen by nearly 750,000 incidents in the last three years, but this may be because police are recording crime better.

However, some types of crime are on the rise, especially in Greater Manchester, which has lost more than 2,000 officers since 2010. Its budget has also been slashed by a quarter.

Locally, the Rochdale borough has also been affected dramatically, with the 2012 closure of Littleborough Police Station and the loss of front-desk facilities at Heywood in the same year. However, since 2015 Neighbourhood Beat Officers and PCSOs have returned to Heywood, parading and being deployed in the area.

Almost half of all crimes reported in 2016/17 in the north west occurred in Greater Manchester, which also had the highest rates for all recorded crimes, except drug offences.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/118319/half-of-north-west-crimes-took-place-in-greater-manchester

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

In March, the latest Police Effectiveness report stated that GMP “requires improvement at keeping people safe and reducing crimes”.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/117381/greater-manchester-police-%E2%80%9Crequires-improvement%E2%80%9D-says-police-effectiveness-report