Facts and Figures: Trends

BCS 2000 (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/bcs1.html) shows the trend in vehicle crime over the last two decades. The recorded crime figures follow a similar pattern.

Number of vehicle crimes recorded by the police and estimated BCS vehicle crimes 1981 to 1997 

There are a number of reasons for the differences in the level of crimes reported under the British Crime Survey and the level of recorded crime, including:    

• the incident was considered too trivial by the victim to report to the police

• it involved too small a loss to warrant the attention of the police

• some incidents could have been recorded by the police in crime categories outside the comparable crime category