Alcohol fuels rise in violent crime
HOME OFFICE figures to be published this week will show that violent crime has continued to rise despite a pledge by Charles Clarke, the home secretary, to make it his “number one priority” to curb it.
The records — the first to be released since the general election — are likely to show a rise in violent crime last year of about 7%, with an increase of more than 50% in some areas.
Figures released to The Sunday Times by 31 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales show that South Yorkshire suffered the biggest rise in offences of violence against the person.
Murders, wounding and assaults in the county rose by 57% from 13,499 in the year ending March 2004 to 21,213 in the year ending March 2005. South Yorkshire police attributed much of the rise to better recording practices.
The figures also showed a fall of 7% in total crime recorded nationally, while robbery dropped 13%. There was a particularly marked fall in crimes against property, with domestic burglary down 24%.
This weekend some senior police officers said the figures for violent crime were inflated by a rise in alcohol-related “thuggery” — resulting in more than half of the forces recording increases in violent crime.
Commander Chris Allison, of the alcohol and licensing group at the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: “All we are ever dealing with is people who have drunk too much. We are having to keep a lid on that symptom, every night of every week in every town and village up and down the country.”
He added: “The government needs to address the culture, because if people want to drink to excess, they will, and that leads to all the crime and disorder problems we have to deal with.”
The failure in the past year to stem the rise in violent offences will embarrass the government as it spans the period when both Clarke and David Blunkett, his predecessor, launched high-profile schemes to combat alcohol-related crime.
Last month Clarke published the Violent Crime Reduction Bill, which will give police powers to designate “alcohol disorder zones” to tackle drink-related crime and shut down troublesome bars.
Northumbria is among the forces introducing special measures to curb yobbery. Although the area saw a 9% fall in violent crime last year, Mike Craik, the chief constable, has introduced a far stricter policy of arresting drunks as part of a summer campaign against binge drinking. In June the number arrested by the force was double that in the previous month.
The continuing fall in domestic burglary and vehicle thefts reflects a 15-year campaign to introduce more security measures into houses and cars.
Criminologists also attribute the reduction in burglary to a rise in prosperity and the falling cost of household items, meaning that the resale price of stolen goods such as audio equipment as has dropped.
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