(CNS): Overall crime increased in 2023 by 3.9% when compared to the previous year, largely as a result of acquisitive crimes such as theft, burglary and robbery, the RCIPS confirmed Wednesday after releasing the crime and traffic statistics for last year. While serious violent crime fell slightly, gun crime remains a significant problem. In a year where the police saw a 7% increase in calls for service, they recorded 3,995 actual crimes in total, including a 20% increase in property crime, a 16% increase in robbery, and a 7% increase in burglary.

Despite an additional 150 crimes in 2023 over 2022, the total number of crimes is still down compared to the 4,124 crimes recorded in 2019, the last year before the pandemic. That year, the estimated population was just under 70,000 people, which increased to around 85,000 by the end of 2023, according to the Economics and Statistics Office.

As the annual crime statistics were revealed at a press conference, Police Commissioner Kurt Walton said that no commissioner wants to see overall crime increase, and it was up to him to delve into and understand the reasons in order to divert resources. “We need to look at how we can bring down acquisitive crime, as thefts are huge,” he added.

The police have pointed to the recidivism levels of the people committing this type of crime, noting that many of them are homeless, drug dependent or have mental health problems, and some are prolific offenders.

However, noting that the RCIPS made 2,177 arrests last year, solved all four of the murders that happened within the twelve-month period, and seized 23 guns off the streets as well as over $900,000 worth of drugs, Walton said the police are committed to working with their partner agencies to continue the fight against crime.

“We are never happy about rising or even stable crime,” the commissioner said. However, despite specific issues like theft, in particular car break-ins, and real concern about the number of guns on the streets, putting it into perspective given the evolving crime landscape and the increase in the population, criminality overall “is not out of hand”, he said.

The statistics show that there were 1,469 acquisitive crimes (thefts, burglaries, break-ins and robberies) in 2023 compared to 1,222 in 2022. The main increases are related to theft, specifically vehicle-related theft, which is the steepest increase in all crimes at 51%. These are the crimes committed by prolific offenders who have substance abuse, mental health issues or financial difficulties, including homelessness, which impacts their behaviour on release from prison.

Detective Superintendent Pete Lansdown, who is head of crime detection, explained that the RCIPS has to prioritise resources, which means focusing on the most serious of crimes, and the whole of the RCIPS has been focusing on the more serious crimes such as armed robberies and gun-related crimes in general. But he said it was also focused now on the increase in this acquisitive crime. He explained that in many cases, these crimes are committed by the same offender.

While police often suspect people of committing far more crimes than can be proved on the evidence, Lansdown explained that when a suspected prolific offender is charged with one or two commercial burglaries and taken off the streets, they are placed on remand. At this point, this type of crime can stop as suddenly as it started, only to start up again when the suspect gets bail.

The police dealt with 37,866 calls for service, including traffic collisions, but actual crimes made up only around 10.4% of the callouts. Waltons said that 13,721 calls for service were in connection with a security alarm being triggered, a civil dispute, or other issues, such as people in distress, which were not criminal incidents.

However, it is impossible for the RCIPS to measure how much responding to all burglar alarms or neighbour disputes prevents crime from happening. Walton pointed out that while well over 90% of alarm calls are false, on occasion, a burglary is in progress — a crime that would be missed if they stopped responding to alarm calls.

Given the changing crime landscape, Walton once again spoke about the need to grow the size of the RCIPS. He pointed out that in 2008, at the time of the financial crash, the RCIPS had 370 sworn officers. Today, 16 years later, even after the creation of numerous new units, from the police helicopter to the forensic and ballistics hub, Walton said he currently has 380 sworn officers, an increase in just ten.

“The organisation needs to grow as it has to be future-proofed,” Walton said, adding that police are dealing with new threats and new types of crime, which has seen resources juggled around to meet new emerging crimes and spikes in particular types of crime, such as robbery or, as is the case now, opportunistic theft and break-ins.

See the full 2023 crime statistics report and the performance tables in the CNS Library.