Silent Crime: Overall crime rates are dropping - but petty crime is still rising and blighting communities

Figures from the Office For National Statistics (ONS) annual crime report has shown that all recorded crime has decreased by 1% in the last year, but there are fears that leniency towards petty crimes has resulted in a dramatic increase in reports.

Petty crimes are on the up, with NationalWorld’s newest campaign, Silent Crime, aiming to highlight the impact everyday crime has on normal lives. NationalWorld titles will be reporting on crimes such as shoplifting, theft, anti-social behaviour and harassment to paint a picture of what the UK is dealing with, as well as speaking to those most impacted - the victims. 

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We take a look at the latest statistics to show just how low-level crimes are bucking the overall trend and actually increasing. The image of shops locking down everyday items such as milk, sweets and baby formula have littered social media feeds since the cost of living crisis started, with the ONS statistics now proving that cases are increasing.

Overall crime is down - but petty crime is up

While overall crime has dropped, some specific crimes have seen huge increases over the past year. According to the ONS’s annual crime stats for England and Wales, incidents of shoplifting being recorded by police have increased by 30%, reaching the highest level in 40 years - figures rose from 342,428 offences to 443,995 offences in the year to March 2024. 

Likewise, theft from the person had a huge increase of 40% year-on-year. The level of reported crimes for theft from the person is also at the highest level for 40 years and is on the up, increasing from 247,000 incidents in 2023 to 347,000 incidents in 2024. 

Although there was no significant increase, there were still 1,600,000 “neighbourhood crime” incidents in England and Wales. Crimes which come under this category include theft from the person, domestic burglary and vehicle-related theft. 

Fraud reports have decreased by 10% in the year to March 2024, computer misuse reports have actually increased by a whopping 37%, rising to 1,000,000 from the 2023 level of 883,000. This cyber crime encompasses incidents of unauthorised access to personal information, which by itself has increased by 47%. 

Police officers steadily increasing

Staffing level of police forces across England and Wales has been of concern for some time, with a huge dip at the start of the 2010s in the number of officers within the sector. According to Home Office statistics, levels began dipping in 2010, steadily decreasing year-by-year and reaching a low of only 121,929 in September 2017. 

However, since around 2019, levels have begun noticeably increasing, with levels in March 2023 reaching the highest peak in almost 20 years. The number of police officers in England and Wales sat at 147,430, which only marginally decreased to 147,098 in the latter half of 2023. 

Likewise, funding for the police force has increased in 2024 compared to the previous year, but has failed to keep up in real-terms. According to the Home Office, overall funding for the 2024 financial year was budgeted at £556,000,000 - a 3.3% increase year-on-year. However this translates to only a 0.7% increase in real terms.

This may explain why police forces across England and Wales are unwilling to dedicate already-strained resources to petty crimes, in favour of tackling more serious offences.