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| Recorded crime continues to fall in England and Wales | Recorded crime continues to fall in England and Wales |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| The number of crimes recorded by police in England and Wales fell by 6% in the year to end of December 2010. | The number of crimes recorded by police in England and Wales fell by 6% in the year to end of December 2010. |
| All types of recorded crime fell, except sexual offences and some types of theft, up by 3% and 1% respectively. | |
| Violence recorded by police fell 6%. But there were contradictory figures on whether the number of home burglaries had risen or gone down. | |
| The figures continue a general trend of falling crime and rising confidence in police. | The figures continue a general trend of falling crime and rising confidence in police. |
| The government uses two methods to measure crime: offences recorded by police forces and the British Crime Survey, which asks people about their experiences, rather than just what they report. | |
| According to the BCS figures for the 12 months to the end of December, overall crime fell by 3% compared with the previous year. The BCS found no significant change in the rate of violence. | |
| Police recorded a 17% fall in criminal damage and a 12% fall in vehicle crime, typically break-ins. Police figures also showed a 1% fall in robberies. | |
| Burglary contradictions | |
| However, the two official measures came up with different figures for home burglaries. | |
| Police forces recorded a 7% fall in domestic burglaries over the 12 months - but the British Crime Survey found that they had gone up by 14%. The discrepancy has widened since the last set of quarterly figures. | |
| Police statisticians are examining the difference and believe it may be a "perception gap", rather than a fault with the way officers are recording crime. | |
| They point to the example of damage to a property's perimeter or to a garage door. While a householder may suspect attempted burglary, the police may categorise it as criminal damage because there is no clear evidence of burglary. | |
| The BCS recorded a 12% rise in bicycle thefts and an 8% rise in other household theft. Police also recorded a 7% fall in firearms offences. | |
| The overall risk of being a victim of crime remained roughly the same as the previous 12 months, at just over 21%. | |
| The proportion of people who said the police were performing well increased from 56% to 58% over the year. | |
| There was also a slight rise in the number of people happy with the way local councils were tackling anti-social behaviour. | |
| The number of people who said there was a high level of anti-social behaviour near to them fell by 1% - but the number of people with a "high level of worry" about burglary remained at 10%. |