Rise in crimes on Wales’ trains
WALES has recorded the British rail network’s biggest rise in offences of violence against the person, sexual offences, motor vehicles or cycle offences and fraud.
The findings were revealed in police figures that also showed crime on the British railway network has risen by more than 12% in the past year.
Across Wales, Scotland and England, homicides, assaults, sexual offences, drugs offences, robberies, racially or religiously aggravated public disorder offences and offences of violence involving firearms or explosives are among the reported crimes that have increased.
The figures released by British Transport Police (BTP) show crimes have increased from 60,867 in 2017-18 to 68,313 in 2018-19.
Theft of passenger property is the most common offence on the network – accounting for 23% of crimes – closely followed by violence against the person.
Offences of violence, which included six homicides, 14 attempted murders, 3,047 serious assaults and 8,207 assaults, rose by more than 16%. Sexual crimes were up by nearly 8%, with 1,584 offences against women and 113 against men.
Thefts of passenger property increased by 20.58% and robberies by 32.53%.
The figures also show that public disorder rose by 8.55%, with 7,993 reported cases of causing fear, alarm or distress and another 2,231 offences that were racially or religiously aggravated.
The highest number of crimes were recorded in BTP’s B Division North – which covers an area including north London and East Anglia – while the fewest crimes were recorded in Scotland, the only area to show an overall decrease.
Wales showed the highest rise in offences of violence against the person, sexual offences, motor vehicle or cycle offences and fraud; the south-west of England saw the biggest increases in criminal damage, “route” offences and robbery; and the English Midlands showed the largest increase in public disorder and drugs offences.
The two areas covering London and the south-east of England showed the biggest rise in theft of passenger and railway property.
The only crimes to show an overall decrease since last year were those classed as “line of route”, which include offences of destroying, damaging or endangering safety, obstruction and throwing missiles at rail vehicles.
The number of overall crimes per million journeys made has fallen since 2009-10, from 25.6 to 20.8 in 2018-19.
Deputy Chief Constable Adrian Hanstock said: “Like forces throughout Britain, we have seen an increase in notifiable crime within the national network. With record levels of passengers using the railway, we anticipated there could be a subsequent rise in crime.
“As stations become increasingly commercial environments, a large proportion of this increase is as a result of theft of passenger property, anti-social behaviour or shoplifting.
“Despite this increase, when put into context, it is important to remember that the chance of becoming a victim of crime on the railway is very low.
“We now police more than 3.3 billion journeys each year, the equivalent of a third of the world’s population passing through our jurisdiction.”