Crime lowest for a decade

CrimeE across Britain has fallen to its lowest level for more than a decade, according to the set of official figures seen as the most reliable measure.

The results, which show a drop in offending of more than one third between 1995 and 2000 and a fall of 12 per cent in the last 12 months, have been greeted with delight by Tony Blair. The figures contradict the most recent police statistics for England and Wales, which were published in July and revealed a national fall of 2.5 per cent in recorded crime and a drop of 2.2 per cent in London in the 12 months to April 2001.

But the findings from the British Crime Survey, are accepted as more accurate because less than half of all offences are ever reported to police and only about a quarter are recorded. The survey is based on interviews with 9,000 people who are asked to report their experiences of crime. They show just over 12.9 million offences were committed in 2000, down from 14.7 million in 1999 and 19.1 million in 1995.