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For the crime types it covers, the BCS provides a more reliable measure of trends in crime as it has a consistent methodology and is unaffected by changes in levels of reporting to the police, recording practice or police activity.

Whilst the BCS interviews in the year to September 2007 showed violent crime as stable, there were nearly 23,000 fewer violence against the person crimes recorded by police in the quarter July to September 2007 compared with the same quarter in 2006. The greatest fall occurred in 'other violence against the person with injury' (down 14,000 offences).

In the year to September 2007 there was a four per cent increase in firearms offences according to provisional statistics. Firearms offences resulting in fatalities decreased from 55 to 49. Serious injuries from firearms offences fell by 16 per cent.

British Crime Survey statistics

Statistics from the BCS interviews for the year ending September 2007 show:

• levels of all BCS crime stable at 10.7 million crimes
• risk of being a victim of crime down to 23 per cent (compared with 24 per cent in the year to September 2006).
• violent crime stable
• domestic burglary stable
• vehicle-related thefts stable
• theft from the person stable
• vandalism stable
• personal acquisitive crime decreased by 11 per cent
• household acquisitive crime stable

Recorded crime statistics

The recorded crime quarterly update to September 2007 shows:

• total recorded crime down 9 per cent
• domestic burglary down 8 per cent
• offences against vehicles down 12 per cent
• violence against the person down 8 per cent
• robbery down 17 per cent
• drug offences up 21 per cent - the rise in this and previous quarters coincided with increases in the police use of powers to issue cannabis warnings

The BCS in the year to September 2007 showed no change in the overall levels of perceived anti-social behaviour. Public confidence in the Criminal Justice System decreased in two of the seven different aspects of the CJS asked about: being effective at reducing crime and in dealing with young people accused of crime. Confidence in the local police increased in the year to September 2007 (up from 51 per cent to 52 per cent compared with the previous year).

Further information

• Crime statistics Opens new window