NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

………… In REALITY: it increases it by creating unarmed victims for those who wouldn’t obey ANY laws no matter how strict they get……..
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BRITAIN: Violent crime rises
Date: Apr 28, 2006 1:50 PM
PUBLICATION: The Daily Telegraph
DATE: 2006.04.28
PAGE: 00
SECTION: News
BYLINE: John Steele Crime Correspondent
WORD COUNT: 661

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New setback for troubled Clarke as violent crime rises

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ROBBERIES, sex offences and incidents of violence causing injuries have
increased, according to the latest figures for crimes reported to
police. Drug offences also leapt, by more than 20 per cent, the
statistics for the three months to last December show.

Overall violent crime rose by one per cent in the Oct-Dec 2005 period,
compared with the same period in 2004, to just under 298,000 crimes.

Within that overall total, “more serious violence” – the smallest
category – fell by 12 per cent, to around 9,800.

But there was a six per cent rise in “offences against the person – with
injury”, to 130,700 crimes.

Violence offences without injury, which include harassment, fell
slightly. Much of the lower level violence has been driven by heavy
drinking. Criminal damage also rose slightly.

The figures for England and Wales confirmed previous reports,
particularly from the Metropolitan Police, that robberies were rising
again after several years in which a Government initiative against
street muggers drove them down.

Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, who is facing mounting pressure to
quit over the foreign prisoners scandal, said: “I am encouraged by the
fact that violent crime is stabilising, but there is still too much
violent crime.”

There were 23,800 robberies in the last three months of last year,
compared with 22,500 in the same period in 2004, a six per cent rise.
Sexual offences rose by three per cent, to 14,900. Separate figures on
gun crime, comparing the calendar years of 2004 and 2005, show that
although offences fell by three per cent to 10,878 in 2005, the number
of serious injuries caused by firearms jumped by more than a fifth.
There were 473 serious injuries recorded last year, compared with 390 in
2004 – a rise of 21 per cent.

Slight injuries also rose 10 per cent to 3,421. Gun killings showed a
significant decline of 30 per cent, from 73 to 51.

Drug offences rose by 21 per cent, from 37,700 in the last quarter of
2004 to 45,800 in the same period last year. Though the classification
of cannabis, which traditionally accounts for the bulk of drugs
offences, has been downgraded, it is thought the figures have been
boosted by a greater use of formal warnings by police for those found in
possession of the drug.

There has also been increased police activity against drug dealers.
Overall, recorded crime – offences the public consider serious enough to
report to police – remained static between the last quarter of 2004 and
the same period last year, at 1,377,000 offences. There were falls in
burglaries and thefts.

The Home Office insists that some of the figures are still affected by
changes in recent years in the way crime is recorded by police, though
the 2004 and 2005 figures are mostly compiled under the new methods and
allow valid comparisons.

The Home Office, however, chose yesterday to focus on a different crime
measure – the British Crime Survey (BCS), which asks those over 16 about
their experiences of crime, reported to police or not. The BCS is
described by the Home Office as “generally accepted as the most
authoritative and reliable indicator of crime trends” – an assertion
which is disputed by some experts in the field.

The BCS has traditionally showed rates of crime higher than the recorded
figures but the Government has highlighted it in recent years because of
its apparent downward trend. The Home Office pointed out that, measured
by the BCS, the risk of being a victim of crime, at 23 per cent, was the
lowest since 1981 and violent crime was “stable” year on year in the
BCS. But the BCS also showed that the number of people who were “very
worried” about violent crime rose from 16 per cent in 2004 to 17 per
cent in 2005.

Mr Clarke was on the end of more criticism yesterday when an official
criticised the Home Office’s implementation of its asylum policy. The
Home Office’s certification monitor, Sarah Woodhouse, was appointed to
assess the fairness of powers to deport failed asylum seekers. Miss
Woodhouse concluded that the measures were not being used properly or
safely.