LONDON, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Police forces in England and Wales recorded almost 3 million property crimes in the year to March 2016, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported Thursday.
The 2,970,843 offences accounted for two thirds of all crimes reported during the year, said ONS. Fraud, criminal damage and arson made up most of the remaining recorded crimes.
The figures also show that 385,000 young people aged 10 to 15 were victims of crime during the past year. ONS said there were an estimated 274,000 incidents of personal theft and 111,000 incidents of criminal damage to personal property experienced by children aged 10 to 15 in England and Wales.
A crime survey covering England and Wales shows that while there have been long-term declines across most types of property crimes, the biggest falls have been mostly seen in auto-related thefts, house burglaries and criminal damage.
ONS said some commentators have suggested that crime in Britain has not actually fallen; but instead changed its nature and moved into offence categories not well covered by official statistics, such as fraud and computer misuse.
Officials at ONS said new experimental statistics from the crime survey on fraud and computer misuse offences show a substantial volume of crimes, totalling 5.8 million, were experienced by the population resident in households in the last 12 months.
Initial findings from the experimental statistics showed an estimated 6.5 percent of adults in England and Wales have been victims of fraud in the previous 12 months. This, said ONS, represents a higher prevalence rate than any other crime type. A further 3.6 percent percent of all adults had been victims of computer misuse.
The increased use of expensive cellphones is also contributing to higher numbers of so-called theft from the person.
Thefts of personal items have not fallen at the same pronounced rate now make up a higher proportion property crime than in previous years, accounting for more than one-in-five of all reported crimes. Most commonly, these thefts were targeted at purses, wallets, bank cards, money and mobile phones.
"Specifically, wallets or purses continue to be stolen in a high proportion (41 percent) of theft from the person offences along with cash or foreign currency and mobile phones (40 percent and 37 percent respectively)," said the ONS report.
ONS said victims of property crimes were more likely to be living in urban areas and areas with low employment levels, or high levels of incivility.
But crime survey figures show that property crimes, which reached a peak in 1995, have declined and estimates from the latest survey show are 67 percent lower than the totals from 20 years ago.
The rate of reduction in vehicle offences has been striking, said ONS. Surveys show a consistent downward trend in levels of vehicle-related theft with the latest estimates 79 percent lower than in 1995.
In the figures for the year ending March 2016, there were an estimated 878,000 vehicle-related thefts, the lowest estimate since the survey began in 1981. Vehicle-owning households are now five times less likely to become a victim of vehicle-related theft than in 1995.
Researchers say this is partly due to improved vehicle security and partly attributable to changing levels of illegal drug use.
