It’s official - crime is down 7%

Friday 12 August 2016

Crime in Jersey has declined across all eight major categories, including burglary, shop theft and malicious damage, according to figures for the first half of this year.

States of Jersey Police figures show that all recorded crime for January to June stood at 1,348, compared with 1,445 for the same period in 2015. This represents a near 7% fall in crime, year-on-year.

The biggest falls this year, compared to 2015, came in thefts from shops and malicious damage.

Home Affairs Minister Kristina Moore says the figures are “really pleasing” and pinpointed the decline in domestic violence as a crucial factor.

“We had seen domestic violence go up in 2015 so it is especially good news that it has started to go down again. That’s really good news. Crime reduction is really pleasing all round, but I am especially heartened by the figures for domestic violence and they have come about for a combination of reasons. I think victims are more confident in coming forward but there is also less repeat offending, which is so important.

“I think Jersey’s police force and numerous other organisations have all worked really well together to ensure crime prevention is to the fore. Also, the strong presence of the police on the streets does help.”

All recorded crime has fluctuated just above the 200-mark for every month of the current year. There were 220 crimes recorded in January, 232 in February, 226 in March, 207 in April, 242 in May and 221 in June.

The biggest monthly figure for all recorded crime in the past couple of years was in July 2015, when 313 were registered.

Burglary figures for the first half of last year stood at 93, whereas in 2016, for the period January to June, that figure as 86.

Theft from shops showed a much bigger fall, from 99 in the first six months of 2015, to just 55 for the corresponding period this year. That’s a sharp decline of nearly half in just 12 months.

Malicious Damage has gone down from 272 to 197 – again, both figures are for the first six months of the year.

Car/vehicle crime was recorded at 179 in 2015, whereas for the first six months of the current year there were only 139 incidents.

There was a tiny fall in sexual offences recorded for the first six months of 2016, compared to the previous year, 77 down to 75. But incidents of domestic violence have declined more sharply, from 148 to 126 for the first six months of 2015 and 2016 respectively.

Even with crimes as relatively minor as cycle theft, the figures are down. There were 34 recorded incidents of cycle theft in the first six months of 2016, compared with 42 the previous year.

Night time economy (NET) violence, which is usually alcohol-fuelled violence during the hours of darkness, has also declined, from 112 for the first six months of 2015 to 95 in the corresponding period of this year.

Road traffic collisions have also declined year on year, from 121 for the first six months of 2015 to just 104 for the corresponding period in 2016.

All recorded crime for the whole of 2015 was 3,080. Current figures for this year would suggest it will be around 2,700 in 2016.