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Supplementary Volume 3 to Crime in England and Wales 2006/07

This report is the third in a series of supplements to Crime in England and Wales 2006/07. It looks at the nature of household and personal crimes, mobile phone ownership and theft, Neighbourhood Watch membership, and perceptions and confidence in the police force.

Title:  Circumstances of crime, Neighbourhood Watch membership and perceptions of policing
Authors: Sian Nicholas (Ed.), John Flatley (Ed.), Jacqueline Hoare, Alison Patterson, Clare Southcott, Sian Moley and Krista Jansson
Series: Home Office Statistical Bulletin 06/08
Number of pages: 99
Date published: May 2008
Availability: Download full report PDF 612Kb

The nature of crime

This chapter presents information from the 2006/07 British Crime Survey (BCS) on the circumstances of burglary, vehicle-related theft, personal and other household theft, vandalism and violence incidents.

Based on victims’ knowledge, most criminal incidents occurred during the evening or night with the exception of personal theft, where most took place during the day.

• Three-quarters of incidents of vehicle-related theft (76%) and 57% of burglaries occurred during the evening or night compared with 30% of incidents of theft from the person.
  

Naturally most burglaries involved attempted or actual forced entry but some were committed in other ways:

• One-quarter of burglaries with entry occurred when the door was not locked.
• In 7% of burglaries with entry the offender(s) used a key.
• In just three% of incidents of burglary false pretences were used to gain entry.
  

The location of criminal incidents varied by the type of offence.

• Most domestic violence incidents took place around the home (74%), while around two- thirds of incidents of stranger violence happened in the street or a pub or club (36% and 29% respectively).
• One in five incidents of theft from the person occurred on or around public transport (21%), a similar proportion took place inside a shop or supermarket (19%) and a further 17% in the street.
  

For both burglary and vehicle-related theft, having security measures in place is known to be strongly associated with lower levels of victimisation. The presence of security measures has increased over time and is now typically a standard feature of new cars and houses.

• In 2006/07 the most common home security devices were window locks (86% of households had them) and double or deadlocks on doors (82%), an increase since 1993 (62% and 70% respectively).
• Between 1991 and 2006/07 the presence of vehicle immobilisers has more than tripled (23% to 78%), car alarms almost tripled (23% to 63%), and central locking more than doubled (35% to 88%).
  

Changes in levels of security have had an impact not only on the overall levels of crime but also on the profile of incidents:

• In relation to thefts of vehicles, there was a decrease between 1995 and the 2006/07 BCS in the proportion of incidents where entry was gained through forcing the lock (down from 65% to 51% of the total). This was balanced by increases in the proportion where entry was gained by breaking a window (up from 13% to 20%) or through an unlocked door (from 3% to 10%).
• Similarly, for thefts from vehicles there was a decrease between 1995 and the 2006/07 BCS in the proportion of incidents in which entry was achieved by forcing the lock (down from 33% to 24%) and increases in the proportion with entry by breaking a window (up from 46% to 50%) or through an unlocked door (up from 9% to 15%).
  

The proportion of victims who knew anything about their offenders varied by type of crime and was lowest for vandalism (29%), and highest for violence (99%). Where the victim was able to say something about the offender(s), young adults were most commonly believed to be the perpetrators of the crime.

• The offender was believed to be aged between 16 and 24 years in half of burglary and violent incidents (48% and 51% respectively).
• Within the category of violence, three-quarters of incidents of robbery were believed to be carried out by offenders in this age group (74%).
• In four out of ten incidents of vandalism the offender(s) were perceived to be aged between 16 and 24 and in a further five in ten incidents, offender(s) were perceived to be of school age (40% and 49% respectively). 

Mobile phone ownership and theft

This chapter presents the latest information from the 2006/07 British Crime Survey (BCS) on ownership and the experience of theft of mobile phones among adults and children.

Mobile phone ownership continues to rise with the 2006/07 BCS showing:

• 76% of individuals owned mobile phones, up from 74% in the 2005/06 BCS
• levels of ownership are greatest for adults in the 16 to 44 age groups at 96%.
  

Rates of ownership increased for all age groups except those aged 16 to 24 (where ownership was already at 96%) and children under 12 where ownership levels remain relatively low. Although those aged 55 and over remain less likely than other adults to own a mobile phone, the increase in ownership levels in the last year is particularly notable. For example:

• the proportion owning a mobile phone rose from 35% to 42% for those aged 75 years and over.
  

The 2006/07 BCS shows the proportion of mobile phone owners experiencing a theft remains low at 2% and unchanged since the 2005/06 BCS.

Children and young adults continued to suffer the highest levels of theft:

• 5% of those in the 12 to 15 and 16 to 24 age groups had a mobile phone stolen in the last 12 months compared with two% of all owners.
  

Children and young adults comprise a large proportion of all victims of mobile phone theft. This results from the higher levels of theft and ownership among these age groups.

• One-third of mobile phone theft victims were aged 16 to 24; a further 16% were aged under 16 which, when combined, results in half of all victims being aged under 25 years. 

Neighbourhood Watch membership

This chapter presents findings from the 2006/07 British Crime Survey (BCS) on Neighbourhood Watch membership.

Levels of membership in 2006/07 are similar to those found in the 2004/05 and 2005/06 BCS but there are indications of a decrease compared with previous rounds of the survey.

• Overall 16% of households belonged to a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in 2006/07 compared with 27% as measured by the BCS in 2000.
• 65% of respondents reported there was not a scheme currently operating in their local area, with three-quarters of these saying they would join a scheme if there was one.
  

Membership rates varied by both household and area characteristics. In general, the characteristics associated with higher levels of membership were those related to having a lower risk of crime. For example:

• Home owners were around twice as likely to be members of Neighbourhood Watch (19%) as social and private renters (9% and 10% respectively).
• Households in Wealthy Achievers areas (as defined by ACORN) were the most likely to be members of Neighbourhood Watch (28%) and four times more likely to be members than those living in Hard Pressed areas (7%).
• Households in rural areas were also more likely to be members (21%) than those in urban areas (15%).
  

Households who were members of Neighbourhood Watch were more likely to have home security measures in place, have lower levels of victimisation and were less likely to have a high level of perceived anti-social behaviour.

• Households with a ‘high’ level of home security (homes with burglar alarms, security lights, window bars) were around twice as likely to be members (20%) as households with ‘some’ home security (10%) or no security measures (8%).

• Thirteen% of households who were members of a scheme had been victims of household crime in the last 12 months, compared with 19% of those who were not. However, this cannot be interpreted as a causal relationship between Neighbourhood Watch membership and risk of crime.
• People living in households belonging to a Neighbourhood Watch scheme were less likely to have high levels of perceived anti-social behaviour compared with those from non-member households (11% and 17% respectively).

Public perceptions of the police

This chapter presents findings from the 2006/07 BCS on perceptions of the police including information about contact, public confidence and satisfaction.

Overall around half of people thought the local police and the police in general did an excellent or good job (the BCS public confidence measures).

• The proportion who thought that the police in their local area and the police in general did an excellent or good job (51% for both measures) remained at a similar level to that found in the 2005/06 BCS.

Generally, there were high levels of confidence in the police treating people fairly and with respect but less confidence that they were effective in dealing with crime and related issues.

• The majority thought their local police would treat them with respect if they had contact with them (83%) and would treat everyone fairly regardless of who they were (62%).
• Only 41% of people thought the local police could be relied upon to deal with minor crimes and 47% to be there when they were needed.
  

Public confidence in the police varied by socio-demographic factors, attitudinal characteristics and the nature of their contact with the police. For example:

• Women were more likely than men to have higher levels of confidence in the local police and police in general.
• People were more likely to be confident if they were satisfied with the police response when they had contact with them.
  

Less than half of people had contact with the police; contact was fairly evenly split between those who initiated contact themselves and those who were contacted by the police.

• Forty% had some type of contact with the police in the previous 12 months.
• Over a quarter of people had initiated some form of contact (27%) with the police and 23% had some form of police-initiated contact.
  

Being stopped by the police is a fairly uncommon event for the majority of people and most of those who experienced it were satisfied.

• In the 2006/07 BCS, 10% of people had been stopped by the police in a vehicle and 3% had been stopped while on foot.
• Overall, 81% of those who were stopped (in a vehicle or on foot) were satisfied with the way the police dealt with the matter.
  

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Last update: Thursday, June 26, 2008