Victims of crime - The Herefordshire Partnership

Victims of crime

A cross cutting priority group around young people has been set up as part of the Herefordshire Community Safety and Drugs Partnership¹  Crime Reduction Strategy 2004-07.  They currently measure two indicators around young people as victims of crime:

1. Number of young people (under 25 years) who are victims of crime in Herefordshire
2. Number of young people (under 18 years) who are victims of violence against the person offences in Herefordshire.

The numbers of people (under 25 years) is one of the Key Performance Indicators for the Herefordshire Community Strategy, whereas the subsection of under 18s that are a victim of violence against the person is an indicator the Herefordshire Community Safety and Drugs Partnership use themselves.

One specific aim was to reduce the number of Young People (<25 years old) who are victims of crime by 6% by 2007-08 from the baseline of 6,567 in 2004-05.

Chart 1. Number of young people aged 0-24 years old who were victims of crime in Herefordshire

In 2007-08, there were 6,648 0-24 year olds who were victims of crime in Herefordshire, following a steep increase between 2005-06 and 2006-07 to 6,654 young victims of crime.  Progress against the target seen in the first year has not been sustained.

Source: West Mercia Constabulary and Herefordshire Community Safety and Drugs Partnership

Young People who are victims of violent crime

Chart 2. Number of young people aged 0-17 years old who are victims of violent crime (violence against the person offences)

In 2007-08, there were 1,818 victims of violence against the person offences, an increase of 73 0-17 year olds over the last year. 

This was higher than the target set for this period to have 1,665 or fewer under 18s who were victims of violence against the person offences.

Source: West Mercia Constabulary and Herefordshire Community Safety and Drugs Partnership

Analysis showed there was an increase in common assaults during 2007 against school children by other school children.  Further analysis has been undertaken on each incident, and there are a number of assaults/incidents that should probably be dealt with by schools (as a responsible authority) through their normal disciplinary procedures rather than reporting them to the police.  An Acting Detective Inspector was appointed during 2007 to review all volume crime processes and management.

1  For more information about Herefordshire Community Safety and Drugs Partnership, please see Reference Section 35.