POST-LOCKDOWN SURGE IN CRIME

THERE HAS BEEN AN EXPLOSION IN PUBLIC ORDER OFFENCES IN PARTICULAR

CRIME in England and Wales rose to a record high as Covid restrictions began to be eased earlier this year. The latest figures from the Home Office reveal that there were nearly 1.6 million crimes recorded between April and June this year, as we started to come out of national lockdown.

The number was up 20% from 1.3 million offences committed between January and March, and from 1.5 million crimes between January and March 2020, before the pandemic fully hit.

It is also the highest number of offences seen in any three months on recent record.

Police chiefs say that they were anticipating that crime would rise once restrictions ended, and that broadly this can be attributed to the fact that once people started gathering again and businesses started to open back up, certain types of crime would rise too.

For example, with pubs and bars reopening from April, it was expected that there would be a return of criminality associated with alcohol and the night time economy.

In particular, the number of public order offences increased by 42% between January to March and April to June this year.

These include crimes such as causing public fear, alarm or distress, racially or religiously aggravated public fear, alarm or distress, violence disorders, and other offences against the State or public order.

Sexual offences were up by 28%, criminal damage and arson by 24%, violence against the person by 22%, and possession of weapons offences by 20%.

Both fraud offences and robbery had seen an increase of 19%, while theft offences had risen by 13% and “miscellaneous crimes” by 7%.

Meanwhile, drug offences were the only type of crime to see a decrease, following a surge in these offences during lockdown.

Out of all the police forces in England and Wales, Dyfed-Powys police saw the biggest increase in crimes after the easing of lockdown apart from City of London police, who only cover a small area.

The number of offences recorded by Dyfed-Powys police rose by 44% from 7,795 crimes between January and March to 11,206 between April and June - the first time ever the figure has topped 10,000 in the area.

Meanwhile, Northamptonshire police saw the smallest increase, with the number of crimes rising by 8% from 14,319 to 15,406.

The drop in crime seen during the first year of the pandemic was largely driven by changes in society after coronavirus lockdown restrictions were put in place.

A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesperson said: “Police anticipated that crime would return to pre-pandemic levels as we approached the final stages of the government’s Covid-19 roadmap and all restrictions were lifted, and in the months that followed. Similar trends were seen in summer 2020, after the first lockdown ended.

“As we approached this date, forces put robust plans in place to deal with any upturn in crime, with chief constables assessing the threats and risks in their local areas, and resourcing their patrols and responses accordingly.”