Violent crime rises by 47pc in Lancashire

VIOLENT crime in Lancashire, which includes Adlington, Belmont, part of Egerton, and Edgworth, rose by 47 per cent last year, new statistics revealed.

Despite reductions in the numbers of robberies, burglaries and car thefts, total crime levels across the county rose by 12 per cent.

Police say the increase is largely explained by the huge rise in recorded violent crime. By the end of 2003, 26,691 violent crimes were recorded by police compared with 18,106 by the same time last year.

Police said the rise was partly due to the fact that many more offences now have to be recorded as "violent crime".

Offences involving "low level" violence and "minor scuffles" are now classed as violent crime instead of simple "incidents".

Det Chief Supt Mike Barton said: "However, at the same time there was no increase in the number of violent incidents reported by the public and no increase in the number of people attending the casualty departments with injuries."

Burglaries fell by six per cent from 9,918 to 9,295, vehicle crime dropped by 14 per cent from 19,877 to 17,064 and robbery rates were down 12 per cent from 1,481 to 1,310. Across the country, violent crime rose 14 per cent during the third quarter of 2003 compared with the same period the year before, although levels of other crime remained constant.

There were 289,500 violent crimes in England and Wales from July to September compared with 253,000 over the same period the previous year.

Figures for firearms crime in 2002-2003 showed a huge rise in the use of replica weapons. Imitation firearms were used in 1,815 recorded crimes -- a 46 per cent increase. The overall number of firearm offences increased by 2 per cent to 10,248 incidents.