Vehicle Crime
9.23 Recorded levels of offences against vehicles (incorporating theft of a motor vehicle, theft from a vehicle, aggravated vehicle taking, and interfering with a motor vehicle) decreased by 3% between 2005/06 and 2006/07, and at 11 per 1,000 population were the joint lowest in the whole of England and Wales (average 14 per 1,000 population). However, offences against vehicles increased in Wiltshire (5%) and Avon & Somerset (2%) since the previous year.
9.24 According to the BCS, the rate of all vehicle theft (either actual or attempted theft of or from a vehicle) in 2006/07 (59 per 1,000 households) remained stable compared with 2005/06 (65 per 1,000 households). However, the rates of vehicle theft in Gloucestershire (32 per 1,000), Dorset (37 per 1,000) and Devon & Cornwall (50 per 1,000), as well as for the South West overall were significantly lower compared with the England and Wales average (72 per 1,000). Worry about car crime was significantly lower than in England and Wales as a whole in all the police force areas in the region except Avon & Somerset.
