The 2017 Conservative Manifesto proclaimed that ‘the last seven years have seen historical falls in crime’ and promised to build on that record. The crime figures out today show that police-recorded crime increased by 13 per cent in the 12 months to June 2017. Was the increase the result of Government policies? And how much can we rely on the figures?
We have got so used to the crime figures being manipulated that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) felt it necessary in today’s release to state several times whether or not the figures were real. On the overall increase of 13 per cent it says ‘we judge that there have been genuine increases in crime – particularly in some of the low incidence but more harmful categories’.
Violence against the person was up 19 per cent but this broad category includes scuffles that amount to no more than ‘pushing and shoving’ without physical injury.
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