Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

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Key Facts

• Total robbery offences have fallen by 16% between 2006/07 and 2007/08 this follows two years of increases.
• The fall has largely been in robbery of personal property, which is down 18%. Robbery of business property has fallen by 3%.
  
• The 84,706 total robberies recorded represent the lowest level since the new recorded crime standard was introduced, and the lowest since 1999/2000, when 84,277 were recorded.
  
• Robberies peaked in 2001/02 at 121,359. The figure for 2007/08 is 30% lower than this peak.
• With regard to the British Crime Survey (BCS), the number of robberies identified by the BCS is too small to provide reliable estimates of trends. However, robbery is acquisitive crime and there were 1,870,000 incidents of personal acquisitive crime on the 2007/08 BCS. This represents a decrease of 39% since 1995, although the level has remained stable since 2006/07.
• There were 980,000 other thefts of personal property, a decrease of 14% since 2006/07 BCS.

Robbery is a serious acquisitive crime under PSA 23 and although relatively low in volume, making up only 2% of overall recorded crime and 3% of BCS crimes, it is a highly visible crime and impacts negatively on perceptions of safety on the streets. Hence the Government's clear commitment to these offences.

The reduction in robbery reflects the considerable efforts by the police and their partners in CDRP/CSPs to tackle personal and business robbery and the implementation of partnership robbery action plans based on a problem solving approach. The police cannot tackle robbery effectively without the support and full involvement of their community safety partners.

Whilst the recent performance has been encouraging there is no room for complacency and work by the Home Office and the Government Offices for the Regions and Home Office Crime Team in Wales continues to focus on mainstreaming effective practice in tackling personal and business robbery. This work will now underpin the drive to continue the reductions on serious acquisitive crime as per the new PSA 23 2.

Many of the areas that have successfully tackled robbery have done so by tailoring their response to the specific problems in their area addressing factors such as the profile of victims, perpetrators and the locations in a given area. Thus many of the themes involved with this offence such as youth on youth robberies or robberies associated with the night time economy can be tackled by specific responses. Key activities in tackling robbery include improved joint tasking and working between the police (including safer neighbourhood teams, safer schools officers and safer transport teams in London), and key partners including service providers within local authorities like environmental services, community wardens, housing , education and children's services, licensing and trading standards departments, CCTV, town centre managers and probation and youth services. This joint activity is considered to have contributed to reductions in robbery as has ., intelligence-led action taken by the Priority 44 CDRP's to tackle their most significant crime types and to focus on their local hot spots.

Why has robbery reduced in the latest quarter?

• The focussed activity associated with the Robbery Action Plan, the work undertaken by Government Offices in the Regions and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Safer Streets initiative is considered to have had an impact.
• We are supporting 31 CDRPs that account for over half of all robbery to help them get to grips with the problem in their areas by developing action plans based on an understanding of their local personal robbery problem - the results of the increased focus by the police and wider partners is achieving results.
• Possession of mobile phones continues to be a key driver of robbery particularly amongst young people and there are some encouraging signs that this type of personal robbery has been reducing steadily.

The Street Crime Initiative (SCI) was introduced in March 2002 to tackle the growing street crime problem at a time when robberies were hitting record levels. The public and media had become concerned by the levels on crime on our streets and under the SCI the Government intervened to re-assure them that appropriate action would be taken. The SCI concluded in 2005.

Further Key Facts

• Robbery accounts for 2% of recorded crime and 3% of BCS crime.
• The police recorded 84,706 robberies in 2007/08, 16% fewer than the 101,376 in 2006/07. While this follows two years of increases, the 2007/08 total was still 30% below the 2001/02 peak of 121,359.
  
• 89% of robberies in 2007/08 were of personal property, compared with 91% in the previous three years. The smaller proportion is due to robberies of personal property falling at a faster rate in 2007/08 (18% to 75,565) than those of business property (3% to 9,141).
• In 2007/08, 62% of robberies in England and Wales were recorded by three forces: the Metropolitan Police, Greater Manchester and West Midlands
  
• 2006/07 recorded crime figures show the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) accounting for 45% of all robberies (45,771 offences). 
• The average rate for England and Wales was 1.6 offences per 1,000 population in 2007/08. A comparison of local authority rates shows that the 29 authorities with rates more than twice the average for England and Wales represent 15% of the population but account for 53% of robbery offences. All but three of these authorities are in the three forces listed above.
• Robbery in the MPS (which accounts for almost half of all robbery) has reduced significantly thus far in 2008-9.
• The rolling 12 month totals for all Robbery in the MPS to end of July 2008 are down 22% 44,145 to 34,317 offences compared to end July 2007.
• The rolling 12 month totals for personal robbery in the MPS to end of July 2008 are down 24% 40,719 to 31,111 offences compared to end July 2007. MPS Website
  

From 2007/08 the Home Office is collecting supplementary data on the taking of vehicles during robberies (often termed car-jacking).

• Data were received for 42 of the 44 police forces in England and Wales and these showed that overall three% of robberies in 2007/08 involved the taking of a vehicle. The proportion was slightly higher for instances of robbery of business property (at 5%) compared with the robbery of personal property (3%).
  

Last update: Tuesday, February 24, 2009