BBC

Street robberies and other crimes against the person increased by 8% in the last year in England and Wales, new police figures reveal.

But overall, recorded crime has fallen by 3% since 2010, and there was a 7% reduction in crime against vehicles.

Separate figures from the annual Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) show no “significant change” in crime levels.

And violent crime continues to fall according to police figures.

The Crime Survey has been published by the Office for National Statistics for the first time, after taking the job over from the Home Office. It was previously known as the British Crime Survey.

Total recorded crime fell from just over 4,159,000 to around 4,043,000, the CSEW figures estimate.

They suggest vandalism has reduced by 14%, while the police recorded 9% fewer criminal damage offences.

Violent attacks against the person fell by 7%, with similar falls in both violence, with and without injury.

Deputy Chief Constable Douglas Paxton, of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said he was particularly pleased with the reduction in criminal damage offences.

But he said: “There has been increases in opportunistic thefts and robbery offences and police forces are continuing their efforts to work with partners and the public to prevent these offences.”

Policing minister Nick Herbert said, despite overall crime remaining stable, levels of crime are still too high.

“Police forces and local agencies need to focus on the areas of concern, and from November this year police and crime commissioners will be elected with a mission to drive down crime.

“We will do all we can to cut bureaucracy and give officers the freedom they need to do the job.”

Mr Paxton said police officers will continue to work hard to improve the figures.

“The results are a credit to those officers and staff who have faced the challenge of major efficiencies while continuing to tackle crime in our communities.”

Jury fails to reach verdict in violent disorder case where Alfie Meadows and four others were accused of clashing with police at protest in London in December 2010.

Courtesy of - Guardian

Jurors failed to reach a verdict on Wednesday April 18 on whether a student who suffered a brain injury at a university fees demonstration was guilty of violent disorder.

Alfie Meadows (21) was accused along with four others, in connection with the demonstration in December 2010 when a minority of participants in a 10,000-strong protest clashed with police in Whitehall, central London.

After more than two days of deliberations, a jury at Kingston crown court in London failed to agree and Meadows, of Brixton, south London, was told he may face a retrial.

“You are here as individuals to say this is what I think is reasonable in the circumstances.”

Prosecutor James Lofthouse told the court the crown would consider the next step: “It is very likely we will seek a retrial but we want to consider our position.”

Earlier, Judge Paul Dodgson told the jury he would accept a majority verdict, but the panel of seven men and five women were unable to agree.

Judge Dodgson said: “Individual jurors can only speak for themselves on what they believe to be reasonable. You are here as individuals to say ‘this is what I think is reasonable in the circumstances’.

If the consequence of that is a disagreement then so be it. That is how the jury system sometimes ends up, that 12 jurors sometimes reluctantly end up saying we can’t agree.”

Mr Meadows was a second-year student at Middlesex University at the time of the demonstration and said he was hit with a police truncheon as he attempted to leave the area where protesters were being kettled.

He underwent emergency surgery for his injuries and the Independent Police Complaints Commission mounted an inquiry that was subsequently suspended because of the criminal proceedings.

Mr Meadows’s co-defendants Colin Goff (24), Vishnu Wood (23), and Jack Locke (18) were cleared of violent disorder. Locke was found guilty of one charge of arson with a majority verdict of 10 to two. He will be sentenced on May 18.

Zac King (21) may also face a retrial after jurors failed to agree a verdict in his case. During the trial jurors were told the demonstration was one of four concerned with the proposed increase in university tuition fees at the end of 2010.

Mr Lofthouse said that it was evident from repeated film clips taken from various angles on the day that Meadows was prominent in the repeated thrusting of barriers towards the police line on Whitehall.

But Michael Mansfield QC, who defended Mr Meadows criticised police tactics of kettling saying they had been “totally counter-productive”.

“They had to wait hour after hour. If you put a ring around a number of people, whatever their intention, they’re going to get anxious … They feel trapped, imprisoned – anxiety, irritation, frustration, anger, hostility. Do you see that escalation?”

Mr Mansfield added that some of the reports recalling the level of violence used against police were a “gross exaggeration of what was going on.”

Mr Meadows’s supporters, who staged a demonstration outside the court, claimed the trial was an attempt to silence legitimate protest by pursuing the victim of an assault rather than investigating.

A PSNI officer whose family have been targeted twice by terrorists in as many years has sent a clear message that intimidation will not deflect him from his chosen career.

Colleagues have said that the man – who has not been named – remained defiant after a grenade-based IED was left under his parents’ car in Londonderry.

The incident comes in the wake of a pipe bomb attack against the family in 2009, and the Force has said it is treating the latest attack as attempted murder.

Speaking after the incident, PSNI Supt Chris Yates confirmed the device, which was confirmed as viable by British Army ammunition technical officers, was discovered under the vehicle in Shantallow on the evening of April 15.

He told reporters: “This was an attempt to intimidate the family of a police officer who has no intention of giving up his chosen career, and the family are absolutely clear that this will not intimidate them out of the estate.

“It beggars belief that these dissident criminals could think of targeting two pensioners who have lived in the city for 40 years and are well-respected.

“We are treating this as attempted murder, as a terrorist incident. There are clear similarities to the device used in 2009 and that attack was claimed by dissident republicans – we will be linking those investigations.”

Supt Yates said the Army had confirmed that the device “was the same as a military grenade”. He added: “It’s a cowardly attack, reckless in the extreme. That device when it exploded could have caught anyone in the blast and seriously injured them.

“We utterly condemn such an attack and there has been overwhelming condemnation from all sides of the community. It is breathtaking recklessness and no right-thinking person would carry out such an attack.”

As previously reported on PoliceOracle.com, the Police Federation for Northern Ireland has voiced concern about the increase in terrorist attacks in the province.

Chairman Terry Spence said he remained “deeply concerned” that several officers had been forced from their homes and their families had been threatened.

He added: “Last year there were 140 attacks and we have already seen members of the police and the army targeted by the terrorists since the beginning of January.”

Chief constables must be cautious about seeing roads policing as an easy target for cuts if a rise in casualties is to be averted, according to the Police Federation.

Steve White, Secretary of the staff association’s Roads Policing Group, said he feared that an expensive resource could be an attractive option for reductions.

Mr White told PoliceOracle.com: “These are specialist officers who are highly trained and driving around with a lot of expensive equipment – it is going to be easy for chief constables to claim that all officers can do roads policing and effect cuts.

“I have a lot of sympathy with chief officers who find themselves in this position but it simply is not the case that anyone can take on such a specialist role.”

Mr White was speaking after a story in the Daily Mirror found that there are apparently now more initiatives being run that use volunteers to deter speeding.

Following a FOI request to which 18 forces responded, the paper found that 157 speed detection devices had been issued to volunteers in the past three years.

The report also suggested that offenders given warnings had risen dramatically, with 50,000 letters sent out last year compared to 10,000 in 2009.

While Mr White accepted that there was a place for communities to localised problems, he said it was crucial that officers are able to deal with offences in an appropriate way and that they are able to use their discretion.

He said: “While cuts are seen as the solution to the problems now, when the consequences become apparent in a couple of years we could see the policy reversed.”