Recorded crime now at lowest level since 1986 BUT...

Crime is continuing to fall despite the poor state of the economy and lower numbers of police officers on the streets, with police recording the lowest number of offences since 1986.
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that on both key indicators, data from forces and an authoritative survey, crime has fallen by 6 per cent in the past year alone.
Levels have now dropped by a third in just a decade with rates of violence half what they were in the 1990s.
All the main categories of offence have seen reductions, with homicide down 14 per cent, robbery 7 per cent, vehicle theft 8 per cent, household crime such as burglary 7 per cent, and some types of theft down 2 per cent after a rise the previous year.
The only areas that saw a rise were theft from the person, such as pickpocketing, which increased by 3 per cent in a year, and other household theft, where opportunistic criminals break into garden sheds, which rose by 1 per cent.
In total the independent Office for National Statistics said police had recorded 3.9million offences in the 12 months to June 2012, the lowest number since 1986. The separate Crime Survey for England and Wales indicated there were 9.1m offences against households and adults over the same period.

(Reproduced from The Telegraph.  18th October 2012)

Gardien Comment:  See the article on Shed Security at http://www.garden-security.co.uk/shed-security-print.htm