Crime statistics: ‘We are seeing the impact of cuts’

1 November 2022

“Cuts have consequences”, says West Midlands Police Federation chair Rich Cooke as new Government figures reveal crime in the Force area has risen by 22 per cent.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that in the 12 months to June 2022 there were more than 368,000 crimes in the West Midlands.

Violence against the person rose by 17 per cent, theft offences were up by a quarter, while burglary rose by 14 per cent.

The figures also show that vehicle offences rose by a quarter, theft from the person by three quarters, and criminal damage and arson rose by 56 per cent.

And there were 4,958 knife crime offences, the most outside London and an increase of 50 per cent.

Nationally, police recorded crime in England and Wales in the year ending June 2022 rose by 13 per cent on the previous year, according to the ONS data.

Rich said: “Our members are working tirelessly to tackle crime and protect the public but it’s unsurprising crime figures for the West Midlands rising so significantly. One of the reasons is ludicrous recording rules that see us making records of almost anything reported by the public that “might” be criminal without any further substance. This kind of nonsense is clogging the system, all for a box ticking exercise.

“We’re still suffering the impact of austerity and the deep cuts that were made to numbers and crucially, infrastructure. More recruits are welcome to a degree, but without the experience and facilities around them, sadly they become a burden in the sense that we end up with so many student officers unable to learn the job properly and give of their best, taken away from practical application by academic studies completely abstract from the reality of the job.

“We urgently need a police force that’s properly trained, resourced and supported to really drive down crime.

“But in the meantime, we’ve seen an explosion of serious youth violence and knife crime. Young people are being murdered with alarming regularity yet we still treat the issue with kid gloves because of a woke mindset and an emphasis away from enforcement and tactics we know save lives - like stop and search. We need to have a zero tolerance approach; knife carriers are potential killers regardless of age - they should be treated accordingly. There is no excuse to be made.” 

Vanessa Jardine, West Midlands Police Deputy Chief Constable, said the Force was “especially focused on areas where we have seen the biggest increases”.

She said: “With regard to knife crime, Birmingham has the youngest population in Europe and this, combined with high levels of deprivation in some areas, feeds into youth violence and knife crime.

“We’re working with partners through the Violence Reduction Partnership, which takes a public health approach to youth violence, to tackle root causes and improve outcomes. This includes focusing on hotspot areas with regular high-visibility patrols in areas where evidence shows there’s a risk of serious violence. Educational sessions with young people, weapon sweeps, visits to knife retailers and work with border officials on the import of banned weapons continues.”

She added: “We recognise that there is still much work to do and we are continuing to proactively target those who seek to cause harm to communities and vulnerable people as we work with partners to prevent crime and protect people.”