British Crime Survey 2005/06Executive summaryBased on British Crime Survey interviews, it is estimated that there were approximately 11 million crimes against adults in 2005/06.
Since a peak in 1995, recorded crime of domestic burglary and theft of and from vehicles has continued to fall, thanks largely to people taking security more seriously and making things harder for thieves by using techniques such as Property Marking.
The current risk of becoming a victim of crime is an totally unaceptable 23%.
Property crime accounts for approximately 73% of both British Crime Survey and recorded crime.
1. IntroductionCoverage British Crime Survey "BCS" The BCS is a victimisation survey in which adults are asked about their experiences of crime. It includes property crimes such as burglary and vehicle-related thefts. It is said to provide a better reflection of the true extent of crime because it includes crimes that are not reported to the police and crime which are not reported by them. Police recorded crime Police recorded crime statistics provide a good measure of trends in well-reported crimes and can be used for local crime pattern analysis. However, they do not include crimes which have not been reported. It is estimated that around 40% of all BCS crime is reported to police. That means reported crime statistics only represent just over one third of the whole picture. 2. Extent and trendsBased on British Crime Survey interviews, it is estimated that there were approximately 11 million crimes against adults in 2005/06.
Since a peak in 1995, recorded crime of domestic burglary and theft of and from vehicles has continued to fall, thanks largely to people taking security more seriously and making things harder for thieves by using techniques such as Property Marking.
The current risk of becoming a victim of crime is an totally unaceptable 23%.
Property crime accounts for approximately 73% of both British Crime Survey and recorded crime. Repeat victimisation The proportion of victims who were victimised more than once in the last 12 months are as follows:
Other household theft 21%
All vehicle thefts 18%
Burglary 16%
Bicycle theft 12%
3. Public perceptions
63% of people believe that crime in the UK as a whole had increased in the previous two years. Worry about crime The proportion of people with HIGH LEVELS of worry about burglary is 13%.
The proportion of people with HIGH LEVELS of worry about car crime is 14%. 4. Reporting and recordiing crimeThe public's reporting of crime varies considerably by type of offence.
Thefts of vehicles are most likely to be reported (94%).
Only 81% of burglaries in which something is stolen is likely to be reported.
Reporting rates for things like theft from a person are as low as 33%.
In almost one in five cases (19%), the victim thought the incident was a private matter to be dealt with by themselves. 5. Property CrimeBurglary The number of domestic burglaries estimated by the BCS was 733,000 in the 2005/05 BCS.
The number of domestic burglaries with entry estimated by the BCS was 440,000.
Police recorded 300,555 domestic burglaries and 344,563 non-domestic burglaries in 2005/06.
There has been a gradual decrease in these numbers of the last few years, but should we really accept these horrendous figures?
The BCS estimated that 65% of domestic burglaries were REPORTED to the police, and of these 64% were RECORDED. Definition of burglary The Theft Act 1968 states that the key elements to burglaries are entry (or attempted entry) to a building as a trespasser with intent to steal property from it, and actually stealing (or attempting to steal) or vandalising property whilst inside. Non-domestic burglaries include burglaries to businesses. Domestic burglaries include all inhabitable dwellings, including inhabited caravans, houseboats and holiday homes, as well as sheds and garages connected to the main dwelling. Risk of becoming a victim of burglary Do you think 2.4% an acceptable risk for being a victim of burglary every year? 1.5% of you will be a victim of burglary WITH ENTRY. 1% of you will be victims of ATTEMPTED burglary. How can you reduce your risk of becoming a victim of burglary? Level of home security remains a key risk factor for burglary victimisation. Households where there were no home security measures were almost ten times more likely to hae been victims of burglary than households where there were simple security measures such as deadlocks on doors and window locks (19.4% compared to 2.1%). | 
