Recorded crime in Scotland 2017-2018

This bulletin presents statistics on crimes and offences recorded and cleared up by the police in Scotland, disaggregated by crime/offence group and by local authority.


Table 6: Crimes recorded by the police, Scotland, 2008-09 to 2017-182

  Number & Percentage
Crime group 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 % change 16-17 to 17-18
Total Crimes 377,433 338,124 323,247 314,188 273,053 270,397 256,350 246,243 238,921 244,504 *
Non-sexual crimes of violence 12,612 11,228 11,437 9,484 7,468 6,686 6,272 6,737 7,164 7,251 1
  Homicide etc.3 (incl. causing death by driving) 134 106 122 121 91 106 105 81 105 98 -7
  Attempted murder & serious assault 4 6,472 5,621 5,493 4,693 3,643 3,268 3,166 4,007 4,186 4,189 0
  Robbery 2,963 2,496 2,557 2,244 1,832 1,499 1,497 1,327 1,435 1,556 8
  Other violence 3,043 3,005 3,265 2,426 1,902 1,813 1,504 1,322 1,438 1,408 -2
Sexual crimes5 6,331 6,527 6,696 7,361 7,693 8,604 9,557 10,273 11,092 12,487 13
  Rape & attempted rape 963 996 1,131 1,274 1,462 1,808 1,901 1,809 1,878 2,255 20
  Sexual assault 3,297 3,412 3,220 2,908 3,008 3,405 3,727 3,963 4,281 4,826 13
  Crimes associated with prostitution 765 661 576 567 534 490 374 247 303 136 -55
  Other sexual crimes 1,306 1,458 1,769 2,612 2,689 2,901 3,555 4,254 4,630 5,270 14
Crimes of dishonesty 167,812 153,256 155,870 154,337 135,899 137,324 126,857 115,789 113,205 114,474 1
  Housebreaking6 25,496 23,774 25,017 24,222 21,515 22,272 20,607 17,637 16,299 15,130 -7
  Theft by opening a lockfast place (OLP) 6,952 5,074 4,059 3,529 3,239 3,218 2,879 2,193 1,940 2,027 4
  Theft from a motor vehicle by OLP 13,649 10,173 9,495 8,988 6,159 6,189 5,816 4,684 3,888 3,734 -4
  Theft of a motor vehicle 11,551 9,304 8,716 7,060 5,731 5,976 5,423 5,028 5,216 5,024 -4
  Shoplifting 32,048 30,332 29,660 29,758 26,449 27,693 27,364 28,424 28,650 31,321 9
  Other theft 64,384 61,008 64,680 66,681 58,704 58,794 53,539 46,419 45,173 44,437 -2
  Fraud 8,316 8,283 8,983 8,892 8,898 8,088 6,913 7,400 7,811 8,628 10
  Other dishonesty 5,416 5,308 5,260 5,207 5,204 5,094 4,316 4,004 4,228 4,173 -1
Fire-raising, vandalism etc. 109,430 93,443 82,020 75,201 59,479 54,418 52,091 54,226 52,514 51,322 -2
  Fire-raising 4,651 4,244 3,966 3,755 3,066 2,549 2,351 2,595 2,793 2,632 -6
  Vandalism etc. 104,779 89,199 78,054 71,446 56,413 51,869 49,740 51,631 49,721 48,690 -2
Other crimes 81,248 73,670 67,224 67,805 62,514 63,365 61,573 59,218 54,946 58,970 *
  Crimes against public justice 29,493 26,885 26,294 26,635 23,401 23,610 21,100 20,361 18,795 18,679 -1
  Handling offensive weapons                   7,733 -
    Not used in other criminal activity 8,980 7,042 6,283 5,631 4,015 3,795 3,289 3,111 3,271 3,570 9
    Used in other criminal activity - - - - - - - - - 4,163 -
  Drugs 42,509 39,408 34,347 35,157 34,688 35,616 36,836 35,479 32,641 32,399 -1
  Other 266 335 300 382 410 344 348 267 239 159 -33

*When the additional crimes of handling an offensive weapon are excluded, the total number of crimes recorded by the police between 2016-17
and 2017-18 increased by 1% and the number of Other crimes remained at similar levels over the same period. For local authority comparisons see Table 6A.

Please see Notes for Tables at end of Chapter 6.

Table 6A Percentage change in crimes recorded by the police by local authority, Scotland, 2016-17 and 2017-18

Local Authority Non-sexual
 crimes of violence
Sexual
crimes
Crimes of dishonesty Fire-raising,
vandalism, etc.
Other crimes* Total crimes*
Aberdeen City -6% -12% -19% -5% 0% -12%
Aberdeenshire -12% 10% -13% 1% 11% -3%
Angus 0% 41% 0% -2% -6% 1%
Argyll & Bute 24% 24% 1% -8% 5% 1%
Clackmannanshire 33% 22% 2% -3% 8% 4%
Dumfries & Galloway -4% 22% 10% -14% 1% 1%
Dundee City 5% 15% -4% -5% 7% -1%
East Ayrshire -8% 68% -6% -9% 0% -3%
East Dunbartonshire -9% -24% -20% 9% -2% -11%
East Lothian -16% -18% 7% -5% 21% 4%
East Renfrewshire -16% 5% 16% 17% 11% 14%
Edinburgh, City of 9% 10% 13% 3% 14% 11%
Falkirk 9% 45% 6% 17% 22% 15%
Fife 3% 16% 7% -3% 0% 4%
Glasgow City 1% 19% -3% 1% -7% -2%
Highland -3% -24% 5% -5% 8% 1%
Inverclyde 21% 14% 3% -22% -5% -5%
Midlothian 0% 11% 4% -9% -12% -2%
Moray 5% -4% -12% -17% 12% -6%
Na h-Eileanan Siar -43% 33% -29% -17% -1% -12%
North Ayrshire 9% 15% 3% -19% -8% -5%
North Lanarkshire 16% 37% -3% -3% 2% 0%
Orkney Islands 8% -16% -15% -14% 37% -4%
Perth & Kinross -23% -6% -2% -1% -25% -9%
Renfrewshire 4% 5% 13% 8% -14% 3%
Scottish Borders -17% 26% 10% 7% 23% 12%
Shetland Islands 18% 18% -37% 21% -17% -12%
South Ayrshire 8% 11% 17% -6% 5% 9%
South Lanarkshire 6% 39% 10% 0% -6% 4%
Stirling -7% 35% 4% 3% -22% -2%
West Dunbartonshire -7% 26% -8% -10% -15% -9%
West Lothian -11% -12% -10% -9% 26% -3%
Scotland 1% 13% 1% -2% 0% 1%

*When the additional crimes of handling an offensive weapon are excluded.

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