Crime in Redbridge down overall but increases in domestic violence and hate crimes

The figures for crimes committed during 2012 were released last week, with the number of offences overall decreasing by about eight per cent.

During the past 12 months there were 22,906 offences committed, down from 24,887 in 2011.

Deputy borough commander Supt Zander Gibson said he was pleased with the decline but recognised there were some areas where more work needed to be done.

Mr Gibson said: “It’s positive it’s gone down. We have been better in targeting the criminals who are responsible and this focus on the offenders has brought about these improvements.”

One of the largest decreases was in residential burglary, which fell by almost 12 per cent.

During 2012 there were 2,718 offences, down from 3,096 the previous year.

Non-residential burglary was also down by two per cent.

Also dropping was the number of motor vehicle crime from 4,449 in 2011 to 3,855 last year.

There was a slight decrease in gun crime from 68 offences in 2011 to 65 last year, but the number of murders increased from three to four in 2012.

The number of rapes was down more than 15 per cent from 103 in 2011 to 88 last year.

The number of homophobic crimes more than doubled, rising to 14 last year from six in 2011.

There was also an increase of more than 10 per cent in racist and religious hate crime of 188 in 2011 to 237 last year.