Latest crime figures for Sheffield reveal big rise in violent offences

But with no official crime statistics yet published for the coronavirus lockdown period, police chiefs say their own figures show overall crime remains far below normal levels.

South Yorkshire Police recorded 17,478 incidents of violent crime in Sheffield in the 12 months to March, according to the Office for National Statistics.

That was an increase of 8 per cent compared to the previous year.

At 30 crimes per 1,000 people, that was in line with the rate across England and Wales, which stood at 29.9.

One of the main factors behind the increase in Sheffield was the rise in violence without injury, which rose by 19 per cent, from 4,787 incidents to 5,718.

Offences of violence with injury meanwhile increased by 1 per cent to 5,398.

The total number of offences in Sheffield increased by 5 per cent, with police recording 57,681 crimes over the course of the year.

This puts the overall crime rate at 99 per 1,000 people, compared to a national average of 88.9.

Other crimes recorded in Sheffield included 1,505 sexual offences, a rise of 3 per cent, 22,378 theft offences, a rise of 1 per cent, 6,280 incidents of criminal damage and arson, down 4 per cent, 1,464 drug offences, up 25 per cent, 746 possession of weapons such as firearms or knives, up 18 per cent, and 5,674 public order offences, up 19 per cent.

Responding to the figures, South Yorkshire Police’s Deputy Chief Constable Mark Roberts said: "The latest ONS crime figures cover the 12 months up to the end of March 2020, and therefore include a period of around two weeks after the country began seeing restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The majority of the period, however, is representative of a time when most residents were still going about their usual daily lives.

"While in many areas the figures show promising results from the hard work taking place in our communities, there are others we must continue to prioritise to ensure South Yorkshire remains a safe place in which people can live and work.

"We have seen some pleasing reductions in burglaries, thefts and criminal damage. Our local communities have told us these crime types are of concern to them, and our local Neighbourhood Policing Teams have listened and taken a proactive, problem-solving approach to drive down the numbers.

"It may be concerning to see noticeable increases in reports of drug offences and possession of weapons. However, these serious crimes have remained a priority for the force and the increased number of reports are a result of our officers proactively seeking out those who are causing misery to local people. Resources including our Serious Violent Crime Taskforce and our district Operation Fortify teams are out in the areas which need them day after day, supporting neighbourhood officers to crack down on these issues and disrupt the activity of organised criminal groups.

"This quarter's figures also show increases in reports of rape and other sexual offences. We are only made aware of these horrendous crimes when the victims, who have been through an unimaginable ordeal, have the courage to speak out and report what has happened to them. It is encouraging that an increasing number of brave victims have the trust and confidence in us to tell us what has happened to them. Anyone who has been a victim of rape or other sexual offences can be assured we will listen to them and we will investigate.

"Overall, these stats show the work in our areas of focus continued to make an impact. As we know, our lives all changed significantly in the period following these latest figures. Your police officers have remained on the front line throughout this public health crisis, supporting our communities and being there for those who need us."

And South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings said: “These statistics are for the year ending on 31 March 2020. They give a snapshot in time but do not necessarily indicate long term trends. We need to be cautious when interpreting them.

“There are some pleasing results and some concerning issues. The 30 per cent increase in drug offences is not what it may seem. It means that the police have been very active disrupting the activities of criminal gangs dealing drugs with more arrests. The result is that they have recorded more crimes. This is the paradox of these figures: the more the police do to take drugs and drug dealers off the streets, the more the statistics will show increases in recorded crimes.

“Similarly, the increase in sexual offences of 6 per cent is probably a reflection of the fact that more people have the confidence to come forward and report crimes against them.

“I particularly welcome the fact that knife and sharp instrument offences are down by 6 per cent, and this contrasts with an increase of 6 per cent across the rest of the country. The police and local communities have worked hard to stop knife crime and the partnership approach is beginning to show solid results.

“However, while it is good that the police have taken more weapons off the streets, it is unsettling that the figures for possession of weapons has gone up by 11 per cent – far more than in the country as a whole – 2 per cent. This is clearly an area where we will look for a continuation of police activity around organised criminal gangs.

“Although residential burglary is down by 3 per cent, I know that this is an area that concerns many people across the county. It is an intrusive and disturbing crime and we need to ensure that this becomes a downward trend year on year.

“Overall crime has slightly increased by 1 per cent, and this is in line with the figured for the country as a whole.

“The statistics for this year indicate that South Yorkshire Police is making steady progress in some key areas, but the advent of Covid-19 has meant that the police have had to be very adaptive as criminals have changed their methods and this will be reflected in next year’s figures.”

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