Serious acquisitive crime, violent crime and community safety

2.13Figures for violence resulting in injury have remained consistent, whereas violencewithout injury has increased. Numbers of serious sexual offences have also beenincreasing. There has been the introduction of “Serenity”, a support centre/ advicecentre for women who have suffered sexual assault. This had been in operation forabout 18 months, backed by funding from the NHS and the Police. It is felt that thesupport that they offer could be leading to maintaining the increased level of reportedsexual offences.Census 20112.142.152.16The Census data provided to the Scrutiny Panel detailed the estimated proportion ofWhite British population has reduced by 3.8%, but the estimated proportion of White:Other increased from 4.2 % to 6.5%, compared to 2010 estimates. This group is theBME group most likely to be affected by crime, as both the victim and the perpetrator.Most migrants are also in the age group which is most likely to be affected by crime. Itis most important to be able to identify who these individuals are and what factorsaffect their experience of crime. There needs to be an analysis of whether there areother factors that need to be taken into consideration, for example are there languageor cultural barriers to be overcome.Northampton has a higher than average level of males and females in the 20-40 yearage category. This is the category that is statistically more likely to be the victim orperpetrator of a crime.With regard to ethnicity, there is a perception that there is a higher proportion of whiteother nationals, particularly Eastern European, than actually appears to be borne outby the data.Breakdown of violence by location category2.17Violent crime is categorised under three location types by Northamptonshire Police;domestic violence, town centre violence and residual violence, Residual violencetends to make up 40% of all violent crime, whereas domestic and town centrecomprise approximately 30%. and this has been consistent over the last three years.• Residual violence occurs outside of the town centre and includes incidentsaround schools and educational premises.• There may still be issues of non-reporting.2011/12 Performance Data by sector2.182.19The sectors are based on the neighbourhood and policing areas.The central area demonstrates an increase in violent crime figures over the summer.Conversely, violent crime figures in the north sector, which houses the university,decreased over the summer.15