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Theft crime increased by 39% to 62,546 incidents in the year to the end of September 2022, which was the highest rate of increase in any crime category.
Most other crime categories increased over the year with the highest rates of increase in Kidnapping & Related offences (+29%); Attempts/Threats to Murder; Assaults, Harassments & Related offences (+20%); Burglary & Related offences (+18%) and Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences (+17%).
Controlled Drug offences fell by 19% while Weapons & Explosives offences decreased by just 1%.
Fraud crime in Quarter 3 2022 was down 38% from the same quarter a year earlier.
Male victims of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences increased by 6% in Quarter 3 2022 from a year earlier with a 5% increase in female victims.
Recorded Crime statistics continue to be categorised as Statistics Under Reservation.
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Statistician's Comment
Commenting on the publication, Jim Dalton, Statistician in the Crime & Criminal Justice Section, said: “Recorded Crime statistics published today for Quarter 3 (Q3) 2022 showed that most categories of crime were up in the 12 months to September 2022 compared with a year earlier.
Theft crime showed the highest rate of increase of all crime categories in year to Q3 2022
Theft crime showed the highest rate of increase of all crime categories (+39%) with 62,546 thefts recorded in the 12-month period compared with 45,142 a year earlier.
Among the other categories, the highest rates of increase were for Kidnapping & Related offences (+29%) and incidents of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences which were up by 20%. Burglary & Related offences increased by 18% while Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences were up by 17%. Sexual offences were up 6%.
In contrast, Controlled Drug offences fell by 19% while Weapons & Explosives offences were down by just 1%.
Fraud crime down 38% in Q3 2022 from Q3 2021
There were 2,602 recorded incidents of Fraud, Deception & Related offences in Q3 2022, and this was down by 38% or by 1,612 incidents from a year earlier. This was largely driven by a fall in unauthorised transactions and attempts to obtain personal or banking information online or by phone.
Victims of Assaults up in Q3 2022
Victims of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences during Q3 2022 increased by 5% from the corresponding period in 2021. Male victims increased by 6% while female victims increased by 5%.
Impact of COVID-19 on data for 2020 and 2021
The figures for 2020 and 2021 for some crime categories are likely to have been influenced by the public health restrictions imposed as a result of COVID-19. Please see Table 2.3 of the publication for further information on the constituents of each crime category (Table 2.3).