Crime recorded by the Met Police RISES by 8,000 offences compared to previous month after sharp drop in figures during lockdown
- Crime recorded by the Metropolitan police force has started to rise once again
- The force saw crime drop in lockdown but the number of offences is back up
- A total of 48,349 offences were recorded in April, with 56,514 offences in May
- Lockdown measures were eased in May to allow people to spend time outside
Crime recorded by Britain’s largest police force has started to rise after a sharp drop when lockdown measures were imposed.
The Metropolitan Police saw all recorded crime drop to 48,349 offences in April, down from 65,633 the previous month, and compared with 74,898 in April 2019.
But in May the total recorded offences went back up to 56,514, according to figures published on the force’s crime data dashboard.
Strict lockdown measures were eased in England in the middle of May to allow people to spend more time outside and to exercise with one other member of another household.
Crime recorded by the Metropolitan Police is rising despite a sharp drop in recent months
The Met’s officers had started taking pre-emptive action ahead of the expected rise in crime
But before the substantial rise, the provisional data from police figures recorded during lockdown showed a 25 per cent drop in overall crime, excluding fraud.
These statistics were placed taken in the four weeks to May 10 and were placed in comparison to the same period last year.
According to the numbers released by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, there was a 36 per cent fall in police recorded burglary, a 41 per cent drop in vehicle crime and a notable 30 per cent fall in serious assault and personal robbery.
However, assaults on emergency services workers shockingly rose by 14 per cent during the same timeframe.
Police also registered a four per cent rise in incidents involving domestic abuse, and recorded rape offences had fallen 28 per cent.
With shops closed amid the pandemic, shoplifting offences had fallen by 53 per cent.
The number of calls made to police forces using 999 dropped by 23 per cent during lockdown
The number of calls made to police forces via 999 had dropped by 23 per cent, and calls to 101 had also fallen by 25 per cent.
The Metropolitan Police had also started taking pre-emptive action ahead of an expected rise in crime as society enjoyed more freedom.
Officers visited 1,000 known offenders to try to point them towards ‘diversionary activities’ in an effort to stop crime returning to pre-pandemic levels.
They also targeted 250 micro hotspots that had previously seen high levels of street violence and robbery.