Pubdate: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 Source: Daily Telegraph Contact: Alcohol blamed for increase in violent crime By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor AN increase in alcohol consumption fuelled by improved economic circumstances was linked yesterday to a rise in violent crime last year. While the number of burglaries recorded by the police fell sharply, there was a five per cent increase in offences of violence, continuing a trend apparent since the end of the last recession. Christopher Nuttal, the director of research and statistics at the Home Office, said that while violent crime had risen steadily since the war, variations were "to some extent related to the state of the economy". He said: "Changes in violent crime seem to be related to changes in beer consumption. It goes up when the economy is doing well; it goes down when the economy is doing badly. It appears that alcohol is more related to changes in violent crime than drugs. If there is a relationship between drug consumption and crime, it is likely to affect property crime." Mr Nuttall was providing the first official insight into what lies behind the annual crime statistics after Ministers decided to "depoliticise" the issue. Instead of an announcement by the Home Secretary who would not have been able to claim credit for something that happened under the last administration Mr Nuttall ushered in a new system whereby Civil Service statisticians rather than the politicians will present the figures. >From next April, police will also collate crime figures on a different basis, ending the practice of counting a string of offences committed by a single offender as one crime. This will mean a jump of around 20 per cent or one million in the overall figures in October 1999. The latest statistics showed that 4.8 million offences were recorded by police in England and Wales in the year to June, a fall of 284,000 on the previous 12 months. It was the first time the total had fallen below five million since 1989. The biggest reductions were in vehicle crime, down by nine per cent, and domestic burglaries, which fell by 10 per cent. Although the figure for robbery was down, violent crime, which accounts for seven per cent of the total, rose by 5.2 per cent. Overall 92 per cent of crimes committed were against property. The need to inject greater "honesty" into the process was underlined by Mr Nuttall, who conceded that the existing method of assessing crime was flawed. The separate British Crime Survey, which asks householders to give their experiences over the past 12 months but does not include offences against businesses shows around 19 million offences. While he was reluctant to be drawn, Mr Nuttall suspected that the true figure was three times that nearly 60 million crimes a year. At least 50 per cent of crimes against households were not reported to the police at all and therefore do not feature in the figures. Four out of five rapes also go unreported and only 25 per cent of offences of criminal damage are notified to the police. Even though the new reporting method will still vastly underestimate the true levels of crime, Mr Nuttall said it would give a more accurate picture. Alun Michael, the Home Office minister, said: "By being more open and honest, the public will see that what we say about recorded crime will truly represent what they know to be happening in their daytoday lives."