Violent Crime
9.17 The British Crime Survey (BCS) in 2006/07 found that the level of violent crime in the South West (42 per 1,000 adults) did not differ significantly from the previous year. However recorded crime figures in the South West showed a 2% increase between 2005/06 and 2006/07 in violence against the person (although the rate remains at 17 offences per 1,000 population) in contrast to the national trend which showed a decrease of 1%. Meanwhile, the number of sexual offences increased by 2% in the South West from 2005/06 to 2006/07, compared to a 7% reduction across England and Wales, while the number of recorded instances of robbery decreased by 1% in the South West, despite increasing across England and Wales.
9.18 Of the police forces in the region, Avon and Somerset had the highest rate of recorded violence against the person in the South West (20 per 1,000); this compares to the England and Wales average of 19 offences per 1,000 population, which the South West overall is below on 17 offences per 1,000 population. There was variation across the region in the direction of change in numbers of recorded offences of violence against the person: levels decreased by 1% in Dorset and Devon & Cornwall police force areas, and increased a little in Avon & Somerset (by 1%) and Gloucestershire (by 3%), but the big change was in Wiltshire, which went up by 16%.
9.19 Research undertaken by the Home Office and a number of other organisations (see for example Crime in England and Wales 2005/06, Home Office, Domestic violence offenders: characteristics and offending related needs, Home Office, Alcohol and Crime, Institute of Alcohol Studies Fact Sheet), suggests that there is a relationship between violent crime and alcohol, so linking concern over this crime type to the levels of alcohol consumption in the South West.
