Recorded wounding and assault offences with minor injury increases by 49 per cent in Leicestershire

Recorded wounding and assault offences with minor injury increased by 49 per cent in Leicestershire in the year up to last September.

The jump in the number of ‘violence with injury’ incidents ranks Leicestershire Police 10th out of the 43 forces in the UK based on rate of offences per 1,000 population.

But the spike in the newly-released data for October 2019 - September 2020 is “due to recent improvements in recording practices”, said Leicestershire Police.

“The majority of the violence with injury offences do relate to lower-level injuries such as a scratch or a bruise,” said the force.

Thefts, robberies and burglaries have seen a drop in recorded crimes - almost certainly as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns.

Assistant Chief Constable Julia Debenham said: “We continue to work tirelessly to tackle violent offences through a variety of policing operations including proactive campaigns like ‘Lives Not Knives’.

“We are also committed to providing accurate crime data to the public in order that people are confident in our crime figures.

“In order to achieve this, we have trained our officers in crime classification and have employed additional staff to quality assure our crime recording in real time.”

She added: “Although these statistics record a significant rise in incidents it is important to understand that this does not mean that there has been more crime.

“In many cases, and in line with national Crime Recording standards, there will be a number of crimes recorded for the same reported incident.”

The number of recorded residential burglaries across the county fell by 29 per cent, sexual offences dropped by five per cent, thefts decreased by 26 per cent and robberies went down by 18 per cent.

“However, due to the changing circumstances over the last year with lockdown and restricted travel it is most likely to be as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said police.

ACC Debenham added: “There are decreases in some areas but we are not complacent and remain vigilant in tackling these crimes.

“It is likely that the Covid-19 pandemic has had an effect on the type of crime taking place.

“I would like to thank all of those who have been following the rules as this is enabling us to continue to do our job through patrols, proactive operations and engaging with the community.”

In the last month Leicestershire Police have seen a number of successful arrests, charges and convictions in court following dedicated investigations carried out by officers and staff.

Details of recent cases and convictions can be found here https://www.leics.police.uk/news/leicestershire/news/2021/january/charged-and-in-court-this-month/Please report crime online at https://www.leics.police.uk/ro/report/ or by calling 101.

Always call 999 in an emergency.

For crime prevention advice and tips visit https://www.leics.police.uk/cp/crime-prevention/