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Home Office

Answer

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of (a) racially aggravated offences, (b) violent crime, (c) robbery of personal property and (d) drug offences were recorded in (i) Somerset, (ii) South West England and (iii) England in (A) 1997, (B) 1998, (C) 1999, (D) 2000 and (E) 2001. [82609] Mr. Denham: The requested statistics are given in the table. On 1 April 1998, there was a change in the counting rules for recorded crime, and an expansion of the offences covered. This resulted in an increase of crimes recorded by the police. Recorded crime figures before this date will therefore not be directly comparable. Avon and Somerset police force implemented the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in advance of its national implementation in April 2002. The effects of the Standard are explained in table footnote 9. Recorded crime: number of offences recorded from 1997 to 2001-02 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Police force 19971 1997-982 1998-993 1999-2000 2000-014 2001-024 area/offence Avon and Somerset Total racially -- -- -- 240 478 700 aggravated offences5 Total violent crime6 12,176 13,219 14,985 16,061 19,071 23,670 Robbery of personal -- -- 1,694 2,177 2,573 4,585 property7 Drug offences8 484 461 2,145 2,017 1,990 1,860 South-west Region9 Total racially -- -- -- 667 1,216 1,521 aggravated offences5 Total violent crime6 27,419 28,814 40,242 43,986 47,785 53,840 Robbery of personal -- -- 2,657 3,265 3,694 5,954 property7 Drug offences8 1,705 1,699 9,471 9,637 8,922 9,635 England Total racially -- -- -- 21,140 24,303 29,080 aggravated offences5 Total violent crime6 326,993 332,683 571,027 662,527 692,561 773,680 Robbery of personal -- -- 55,645 71,387 82,010 107,325 property7 Drug offences8 21,627 21,774 126,196 113,346 105,107 111,895 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Recorded on a calendar year basis. 2 The number of crimes recorded in that financial year using the coverage and rules in use until 31 March 1998. 3 The number of crimes recorded in that financial year using the expanded offence coverage and revised counting rules which came into effect on 1 April 1998. 4 Avon and Somerset implemented the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in advance of the national implementation date of April 2002. The 2001-02 figures for this force, and consequently those for the south west region will be affected by the standard, as have those figures for England. The impact of the standard will vary for different types of offence. 5 Racially aggravated offences became notifiable to the police on 1 April 1999. The offences covered are: other wounding, harassment, common assault, criminal damage to a dwelling, criminal damage to a building other than a dwelling, criminal damage to a vehicle and other criminal damage. 6 Violent crime is comprised of violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery. 7 Robbery of personal property was recorded separately (from total robbery) as from 1 April 1998. 8 Up until 1 April 1998, trafficking in controlled drugs was the only drugs-related offence recorded. After this date the offence coverage was expanded to include more drugs-related offences. 9 The south west region comprises the following police forces: Avon and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

395 c420-2W; 82609

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Crime Crimes against the person Crimes of violence Drugs Racially aggravated offences Robbery Somerset South West Mugging

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk