Recorded crime in Stockport more than halved between March 2003 and March 2013. In the year to 31st March 2003 there were 34,619 offences recorded. In the year to 31st March 2013 there were 15,862, a fall of 54%.

Within those numbers, different types of crime have fallen by different amounts:

• Criminal damage and arson down 60%
• Domestic burglary down 60%
• Fraud down 67%
• Robbery down 65%
• Vehicle offences down 71%
• Violence with injury down 47%

There are a few exceptions to the general fall:

Sexual offences are up 2%.
Homicide rates are pretty flat, with between 0 and 9 homicides each year.
“Violence without injury” is up 42%. This is an odd category – it includes assault without injury, but also possession of weapons and harassment.

Some will argue that the fall in crime is because fewer people are reporting crimes. The evidence doesn’t support that. The Crime Survey of England & Wales (which goes out and asks people about their own experiences of crime) backs up the falling trend and is considered by experts to be a good measure of trends.  The evidence suggests that we’ve seen a real, big, drop in crime over the last decade resulting in tens of thousands of fewer victims, which is great news.

Stockport has always had especially close working between the Police, Council and other agencies which we believe has made a real difference to tackling crime in recent years and is a model increasingly being followed elsewhere.

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