Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

Street Crime

Street Crime Home Page

Welcome to the Street Crime mini site.

Street crime definitions

Street crime, although not a standard Home Office term, is usually taken to mean robbery and snatch theft combined.

Robbery is defined in English law as follows:

  • "A person is guilty of robbery if he steals, and immediately before or at the time of doing so, and in order to do so, he uses force on any person, or puts or seeks to put any person in fear of being then and there subjected to force."

Home Office counting rules draw a distinction between personal robbery and commercial robbery.

Personal robbery is defined as

  • "a robbery where the goods stolen belong to an individual or group of individuals, rather than a corporate body, regardless of the location of the property or whether the personal property actually belongs to the person being robbed".

This site contains some useful information on tackling street crime and a lot of historical information about the Street Crime Initiative. The Street Crime Initiative (SCI) was introduced in March 2002 to tackle the growing street crime problem when robberies were hitting record levels and the Government intervened to reassure the public and media who had become greatly concerned by the levels of crime on our streets. The SCI concluded in 2005.

The Initiative brought together a wide range of agencies and government departments at a national and local level to work in partnership to tackle street crime. It was very effective. By the end of the SCI in March 2005, robbery had dropped by 32%, which meant 32,527 fewer street crime offences in its last year. Although the Initiative has now finished, the practical lessons and advice from it are still relevant today. The short guide referred to in the attached link summarises the key lessons for local partnerships.

Tackling Street Crime

For the latest information and stats see the robbery mini site


Latest News on Robbery

Key Facts

  • Total robbery offences have fallen by 16% between 2006/07 and 2007/08, after rising slightly last year (recorded crime).

  • 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.

  • There were 1,870,000 incidents of personal acquisitive crime on the 2007/08 BCS; this number has fallen by 39% since 1995 but has remained stable since 2006/07.

  • There were 980,000 other thefts of personal property, a decrease of 14% since 2006/07 BCS.

Recent developments

  • 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 tackling offences of robbery.

  • Robbery has been falling for the three quarters following a sharp rise in the third quarter of 2006-7

  • The recent sustained reduction 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.

  • Tactics deployed to tackle robbery in successful areas have included tailoring them to specific local problems based on an informed view of the robbery problem based on the profile of victims, perpetrators and locations in a given area. So themes may emerge such as youth on youth robberies or robberies associated with the night time economy which can then be tackled with 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 reckoned to have contributed to reductions in robbery. 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 continues to focus on mainstreaming effective practice in tackling personal and business robbery. Falls in recorded robbery in this period is due (at least in part) to the targeted, 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 reckoned 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 robbery 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.

  • Mobile phones continue 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.

Robbery

Problem Solving 

Home Office Crime Reduction Guidance and Strategies

 

Last update: Monday, November 03, 2008

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