Car Crime UK - Going Up Not Down?

ANALYSIS of official crime figures has led one industry expert to question the Government’s statistics.

Carl Brandrick, MD of Nice 1 Ltd, has been looking at the just published British Crime Survey figures, and comparing it to official Police Recorded Crime. He’s discovered big disparities – with a huge relevance to to the owners of the 30million+ licensed vehicles on UK roads.

British Crime Survey figures, he says, show there were 10.6 million crimes last year. Police data, however, puts this figure at 4.7 million. Why the huge difference? Simple: Police data shows recorded crime only. ‘When you consider that only 65 percent of house burglaries are reported (and, thus, recorded) – and just 45 percent of car crime is reported, you can see how concerned I am.’

Indeed, the difference, he suggests, runs contrary to headlines claiming crime is going down. And there’s even more to it than just that, says the replacement vehicle insurance company boss.

A big car crime growth area is the theft of keys from houses. Which is reported by the Police as… house burglary…… and thus NOT included in car crime stats.

The former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith released the number of car key thefts in 2008. There were a hefty 18,600 of them. ‘When these numbers are factored into the car theft figures, it reverses the headline-grabbing -14 percent decrease in car theft, to -2 percent’ reveals Brandrick.

Looking at other factors too, it’s led him to state that ‘it is almost certain we are talking about a car crime increase, not a decrease.’

To read the full article click here

Comments are welcome.

The Crime Analysis Team

Nice 1 Limited