Jack Dromey MP, Labour’s Shadow Policing Minister, responding to today’s crime statistics release, said:

“These figures show once again alarming increases in the most devastating crimes such as violent crime and sexual offences including rape. A reduction in high volume crime is welcome but recorded sexual offences, including rape, have soared to the highest level in 12 years, while prosecutions are down. Police recorded violent crime is up by 16 per cent but fewer crimes of violence are being solved.

“The Government has broken its promise to protect front line police, with 16,000 officers having already lost their jobs yet demands on the police are growing and crime is changing.

“The police are struggling to cope with the sheer scale of criminal investigation into child sex exploitation and abuse and rapidly growing fraud and online crime and, the Office for National Statistics has found that, if cyber and online crimes such as online fraud were included, total crime would be up by a quarter.”