Violence and sex crimes at 4-year high, say police
SEXUAL crime and cases involving violence are at their highest since Scotland’s single police force was created.
There were 64 murders last year, the greatest number since the formation of Police Scotland.
Force statistics show the number of offences reported each year between 2013-14 and 2016-17. Over the four years, sexual crime incidents rose from 8,604 to 10,822 while crimes of non-sexual violence increased from 6,785 to 7,164.
Despite Nationalist claims that crime is at its lowest for 42 years, detection rates for both categories are down – in the case of serious violence by 8 per cent on the previous year.
Scottish Conservatives’ justice spokesman Douglas Ross said: ‘It won’t ease people’s worries that the SNP continues to take a soft-touch approach.’
In the quarter to the end of March this year, the number of crimes fell 11.3 per cent from 269,092 to 238,651 while detection rates slipped 1.6 per cent to 50 per cent.
But serious violence increased, with non-sexual violent crimes up from 6,785 in 2013-14 to 7,164 in the past year. The detection rate for those crimes was 81.9 per cent in 2013-14, 84.1 per cent in 2015-16, but 77.1 per cent for the last year.
There were 8,604 sexual crimes in 2013-14, and these rose every year, reaching a new high of 10,822, a huge jump of 25.8 per cent.
Detection rates since 2013-14 had been steady at about 75 per cent, but now stand at just 62.3 per cent.
Reported rapes went from 1,690 in 2013-14 to 1,755 last year, but peaked at 1,797 in 2014-15.
Knife crime, one of the scourges of Scotland, was at its highest level in 2016-17, with 2,092 incidents, up from 1,951 the previous year.
Two weeks ago, a dog walker in Hamilton was stabbed by a thug who demanded his phone, as we reported last week.
Use of all offensive weapons rose from 3,111 to 3,271 incidents year on year, but was still down on the 2013-14 figure of 3,795.
Murder spiked last year, with 64 recorded, up 30.6 per cent on the 49 the previous year, but the 2015-16 figure was unusually low. There were 56 and 55 in the force’s first two years. Murder has the best clear-up rate, 100 per cent in the first two years and only one left unsolved in each of the two follow ing years. Attempted murders fell from 317 in the first year to 236 last year, but detection dipped from 95.6 per cent to 86.9 per cent between 2013 and last year.
A senior Police Scotland source claimed most increases were down to the continuing trend of historic crimes being reported. He added: is something the force and the Scottish Government continues to encourage. All sexual crime should be reported, and whether it happened earlier that day, or in 1967, we are duty bound to investigate.
‘But there are signs the resources applied to historic cases, which can be considerable, are stretching us. That might be part of the reason for a lower detection rate.’
Meanwhile, Police Scotland’s Chief Superintendent Barry McEwan said: ‘The majority of violent crime are common assaults. Nearly one quarter are linked to domestic incidents. Overall, violent crime is down more than 4.8 per cent on the five-year average, indicating a downward trend.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said of the sexual crime figures: ‘Statistics show 76 per cent of rape and attempted rape crimes were solved by police in 2015-16.’
‘Continues to take a soft-touch approach’