National figures show 5% reduction in Warwickshire crime

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) published their Crime in England and Wales by Police Force Area dataset for 2023/24 on 24 July.

Nationally, reports of crime have decreased by 3% - in Warwickshire, this figure is closer to a decrease of 5%.

This includes an 18% reduction in knife crime across Warwickshire – a welcome figure, and attributable to several operations targeting knives in the county, including Op Sceptre (knife amnesties) and Op Talkative (encouraging anonymous reporting of concerns around knife possession).

We have also seen a 13% reduction in vehicle offences (compared to the national average reduction of 6%) and a 14% reduction for offences involving criminal damage and arson (compared to the national average reduction of 6%).

The dataset highlights areas that we are working hard to improve on, including an increase of violence with injury by 3% and an increase of sexual offences by 2%. 

There has also been an increase in robbery of 7%, although this is in line with a national increase of around 8% across the country and we still record comparatively few robberies in real terms compared to similar forces.  

Chief Constable Debbie Tedds said “We are happy to see that our efforts in crime reduction across the county have paid off overall, particularly for knife crime, criminal damage, and vehicle offences – I’d like to thank the officers involved for their tireless work in bringing these figures down, your efforts are bearing fruit.

“I am not complacent about those areas where we have seen an unfortunate increase, however small, and we will be redoubling our efforts to deliver the best possible service for victims, to identify offenders, and to see justice delivered.”