Wiltshire Police are encouraging victims and witnesses to continue to report crimes to us as the latest Office of National Statistics crime data was released.
The latest ONS figures, published last week (24th April) and covering the year ending December 2024, show Wiltshire continues to have the lowest overall reported crime rate in the country, per 1,000 of population.
According to the latest report, the number of total recorded crimes in Wiltshire fell by 5.6% - a decrease of 2,276 from 41,903 to 39,627– compared to the previous year.
The figures also showed that the number of crimes relating to violence against the person decreased year-on-year by 3.8% (total 16,316), robbery by 29.6% (total 214), and theft by 10.4% (total 10,895).
Within the theft category, burglary crimes reduced by 7.1% (total 1,645).
Other categories that saw decreases include possession of weapons by 13% (total 366) and public order by 3.6% (total 3,496).
Reported sexual offences increased by 7.7% year on year (total 2,060, an increase of 148 from the previous year), which remains the lowest number per 1,000 population compared to other forces in the south west and other similar-sized forces.
Other crime groups which increased include drugs by 10.8% (total 1,148 up from 1,036, an increase of 112 from the previous year) and miscellaneous by 13.2% (total 925).
Wiltshire Police Deputy Chief Constable Mark Cooper said: “While it is encouraging to see that Wiltshire continues to have the lowest number of crimes per 1,000 population of the 43 forces, we remain determined throughout the organisation to continue to drive improvements and build trust with our communities.
“We are constantly reviewing and refining our processes, training and working in partnership to ensure that we deliver the best service possible for our communities, and it’s pleasing to see this ongoing work is contributing to the decrease in volume of some of the crime types.
“Regarding sexual offences, we know that it is an underreported crime. Over the past year we have done a significant amount of work within the Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) space to encourage not only victims to report any offences to us, but also for members of the public to report when they see concerning behaviour. This helps us gather intelligence on those who potentially pose a risk of causing sexual harm in our communities.
“I would continue to encourage victims of sexual offences to have the confidence to come forward and report it as soon as possible so we can provide you the appropriate support and bring perpetrators to justice.”
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