Sexual, violent and public order offences on the rise in Milton Keynes according to new crime statistics

Thames Valley Police recorded 912 incidents of sexual offences in Milton Keynes in the 12 months to December, according to the Office for National Statistics.

That was an increase of 30% compared to the previous year.

At 3.4 crimes per 1,000 people, that was in line with the rate across England and Wales, which stood at 3.1.

Around 6.1 million offences were recorded across England and Wales in the year to December, including computer fraud and computer misuse.

This was up 8% from 5.6 million in 2020, but roughly the same number as recorded in the 12 months to March 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic.

The number of sex crimes logged by police across the two nations reached another record high in 2021.

Police forces recorded 183,587 rapes and sexual offences in the year to December 2021 – up 22% on 2020 (150,748), which was previously the highest annual figure to date.

Some 37% of sexual offences recorded (67,125) were rapes – a 21% rise from 55,592 in the 12 months to December 2020.

There was also a rise in domestic-abuse related crime in 2021, and stalking and harassment.

Diana Fawcett, chief executive of the charity Victim Support, said she was "seriously concerned" by the latest figures.

She added: “Sadly, these figures reflect what we’re seeing – the number of sexual violence cases referred to us have increased by a third since before the pandemic.

“We also know that court delays for victims of sexual violence are at an all-time high – this is a worrying combination."

The ONS said the latest statistics may reflect a number of factors, including the “impact of high-profile incidents, media coverage and campaigns on people’s willingness to report incidents to the police, as well as a potential increase in the number of victims”.

It said the overall number of crimes recorded were lower during lockdowns but that there were “substantial increases" from April 2021, with certain offence types returning to or exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

The total number of offences in Milton Keynes increased by 8%, with police recording 25,117 crimes over the course of the year.

This puts the overall crime rate at 93.0 per 1,000 people, compared to a national average of 85.5.

Perhaps the biggest surprise from the statistics is a 40% drop in offences for possession of weapons such as firearms and knives.

That will almost certainly be linked to lockdowns during the pandemic. Given the wave of knife crime blighting MK this year that figure is expected to skyrocket in the next set of stats.

Other crimes recorded in Milton Keynes included:

10,369 violent offences, a rise of 16%

6,365 theft offences, down 14%

2,275 incidents of criminal damage and arson, down 5%

167 possession of weapons such as firearms or knives, down 40%

3,524 public order offences, up 99%