Recorded crime falls in Lincolnshire, despite 40 per cent rise in sexual offence reports

The number of crimes recorded in Lincolnshire fell last year, despite a 40 per cent rise in the amount of sexual offences being reported.
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Police news.

This is according to figures published today (Thursday, April 23) by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), based on Home Office data.

Overall, recorded crime fell by two per cent in Lincolnshire in 2014, reaching a total of 35,376.

This included a fall of 11 per cent in shoplifting and nine per cent drop in theft from the person and the combined crime type of criminal damage and arson.

However, there was a rise of 40 per cent in sexual offences and 17 per cent in possession of weapons offences.

The figures in full:

- Total recorded crime (including fraud) - 35,376 (down two per cent)

- Total recorded crime (excluding fraud) - 35,376 (down two per cent)

- Violence against the person - 5,986 (up nine per cent)

- Homicide - 13 (percentage change not provided as number is fewer than 50)

- Violence with injury - 3,178 (up eight per cent)

- Violence without injury - 2,795 (up nine per cent)

- Sexual offences - 853 (up 40 per cent)

- Robbery - 188 (up 12 per cent)

- Theft offences - 19,352 (down five per cent)

- Burglary - 5,298 (up one per cent)

- Domestic burglary - 1,921 (up three per cent)

- Non-domestic burglary - 3,377 (no percentage change)

- Vehicle offences - 3,031 (down one per cent)

- Theft from the person - 343 (down nine per cent)

- Bicycle theft - 1,430 (down one per cent)

- Shoplifting - 4,257 (down 11 per cent)

- All other theft offences - 4,993 (down 10 per cent)

- Criminal damage and arson - 5,149 (down nine per cent)

- Drug offences - 1,647 (no percentage change)

- Possession of weapons offences - 274 (up 17 per cent)

- Public order offences - 1,313 (up five per cent)

- Miscellaneous crimes against society - 614 (up five per cent)

- Fraud - now recorded by Action Fraud

Nationally, there was a two per cent increase in police recorded crime compared on the previous year, with 3.8 million offences recorded in the year ending December 2014.

A spokesman for the ONS said: “The renewed focus on the quality of crime recording is thought to have led to improved compliance with national recording standards, leading to proportionally more crimes reported to the police being recorded by them.”

Improved compliance with recording standards is thought to have particularly affected the police recorded crime categories of violence against the person (up 21 per cent) and public order offences (up 14 per cent), the spokesman continued.

These rises were largely off-set by falls in the number of recorded theft offences (down five per cent), he added.

Total sexual offences rose by 32 per cent with the numbers of rapes (26,703) and other sexual offences (53,559) being at the highest level ever recorded since the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in 2002/03.

“As well as improvements in recording, this is also thought to reflect a greater willingness of victims to come forward to report such crimes,” the spokesman said.

He added: “There was an increase in the volume of offences recorded by Action Fraud (nine per cent year-on-year), although it is still difficult to judge to what extent this was affected by the transfer in responsibility of recording fraud offences from individual police forces to Action Fraud.”