Leicestershire and Rutland is reporting a mixed bag of results in its latest set of crime figures, issued today.

The Office for National Statistics says in the year ending September 2020, there were increases in some offences, in particular violence with injury offences, compared with the year previously.

However, thefts, robberies and burglaries have seen a decrease in recorded crimes most likely to reflect the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.

Leicestershire police are in line with other forces in relation to the amount of violence with injury offences recorded during the period ranking 10th out of the 43 forces in the UK based on rate of offences per 1000 population.

Due to recent improvements in recording practices there has been a 49% increase in comparison to the previous year. The majority of the violence with injury offences do relate to lower-level injuries such as a scratch or a bruise.

Assistant Chief Constable Julia Debenham said: "We continue to work tirelessly to tackle violent offences through a variety of policing operations including proactive campaigns like 'Lives Not Knives.'

"We are also committed to providing accurate crime data to the public in order that people are confident in our crime figures.

"In order to achieve this, we have trained our officers in crime classification and have employed additional staff to quality assure our crime recording in real time.

"Although these statistics record a significant rise in incidents it is important to understand that this does not mean that there has been more crime.

"In many cases, and in line with national Crime Recording standards, there will be a number of crimes recorded for the same reported incident."

The ONS says decreases in recorded crime are shown in residential burglary (-29%), sexual offences (-5%), theft (-26%) and robbery (-18%). However, due to the changing circumstances over the last year with lockdown and restricted travel it is most likely to be as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

ACC Debenham added: "There are decreases in some areas but we are not complacent and remain vigilant in tackling these crimes. It is likely that the Covid-19 pandemic has had an effect on the type of crime taking place and I would like to thank all of those who have been following the rules as this is enabling us to continue to do our job through patrols, proactive operations and engaging with the community."

In the past month Leicestershire Police have seen a number of successful arrests, charges and convictions in court following dedicated investigations carried out by officers and staff.

Details of recent cases and convictions can be found here.

Police also ask for crime to be reported online at https://www.leics.police.uk/ro/report/ or by calling 101. Always call 999 in an emergency.

For crime prevention advice and tips click here.