Vehicle thefts still most common crime in Sheffield but numbers are falling

At last month’s public accountability board meeting, members heard the statistics about crime rates in the Sheffield district.

A report published ahead of the meeting said that South Yorkshire Police’s response times over the last 12 months have “consistently improved”.

It said: “A year ago, Sheffield’s average emergency response time was repeatedly over 14 minutes. In January 2023, we reached 71 per cent in time.

“Since November 2023 the time has consistently been under 11 minutes. In January 2024, 79 per cent were attended within our 15-minute target. Similarly, in January 2023, 47 per cent of priority-graded incidents were attended in time. In January 2024, this was up to 52 per cent.”

The report added that across all neighbourhood crimes (NHC) – including all burglary, robbery and vehicle offences – there has been a steady downward trend with the average being 866 NHC offences per month (12-month average).

It is reported that vehicle offences continue to be the most recorded NHC offences.

However, theft from motor vehicle offence volumes are the lowest they have been since 2018, the report said.

They also found that the 12-month averages (January 2023 to December 2023) for residential burglary and personal robbery are 294 residential burglaries per month and 58 personal robberies per month.

Residential burglary rates, it is reported, “have remained relatively stable” while personal robberies have shown a “general downward trend” in the said 12-month period.

The report said there was a six per cent decrease in anti-social behaviour (ASB) when comparing the numbers to last year.

In terms of safeguarding trends, the force said domestic abuse reporting continued to grow.

The report hailed this as a positive step forward.

It also added that there was a fall in the rates of most serious violence (MSV) in Sheffield between 2022 and 2023.

It said: “Between July to December 2022 there were 346 MSV reported crimes; an average of 57.7 crimes per month. This fell to 323 for the same period in 2023; an average 53.8 crimes per month. This represents a reduction of 6.6 per cent.”