Recorded Crime Q4 2022

There were 11,569 incidents of recorded crime incidents of Fraud, Deception and Related offences in 2022 and this was down by 32% or 5,461 incidents from 2021.

Most other categories of recorded crime increased in 2022 but the largest increase was in Theft and Related offences. There were 65,986 recorded incidents of Theft and Related offences in 2022, an increase of 41% or 19,199 compared with 2021. See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1.

Among the other crime categories, the highest rates of increase were for Homicide & Related offences (+30% or +16), Robbery, Extortion and Hijacking offences (+19% or +335) and Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences which were up by 17% or 3,368 incidents. Sexual offences were up 6% or 193 incidents. See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1.

In contrast, there were decreases in Controlled Drugs offences (-13% or -2,702) and to a much lesser extent Dangerous or Negligent Acts (-1% or -53). See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1.

It should be noted that the crime figures for 2021 for some crime categories are likely to have been influenced by the public health restrictions that were imposed as a result of COVID-19.

In September 2020 the CSO introduced two new tables (Tables 2.2 and 5.1) in the Recorded Crime quarterly publication. They illustrated the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on Recorded Crime Statistics by comparing data for the most recent quarter with the same quarter one year earlier. These tables continue to provide a useful quarterly comparison and data is now included for Q4 2022.

Fraud crime down by over a half between Q4 2021 and Q4 2022

There were 2,310 recorded incidents of Fraud, Deception and Related offences in Q4 2022, and this was down by 56% or 2,987 from the 5,297 incidents recorded in Q4 2021. This reduction was largely driven by a fall in unauthorised transactions and attempts to obtain personal or banking information online or by phone. See Figure 2.2 and Table 2.2.

There were also decreases in 5 of the 13 remaining categories of recorded crime in Q4 2022 compared to a year ago. The highest rates of decrease were in Burglary and Related offences (-18% or -470), Dangerous or Negligent Acts (-15% or -343) and Kidnapping & Related offences (-8% or 5), although the volumes involved in the latter category were much smaller in nature.

In contrast, there were increases in recorded crime incidents of Homicide & Related offences (+73% or +8), Theft & Related offences (+27% or +3,631) and Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences (+17% or +82) and Sexual offences (+8% or +68).

Homicide, Sexual, Assault and Fraud offences above pre-pandemic levels

Table 2.3 provides further breakdown by offence type of the total number of recorded crime incidents for 2022 compared with earlier years. Data for 2020 and 2021 are likely to have been impacted by public health restrictions in place at the time due to COVID-19.

The table shows that the number of recorded crime incidents for some crime categories are above pre-pandemic levels (2019). Some crime categories are just below pre-pandemic levels while others are still significantly below 2019 levels.

Recorded incidents of Fraud, Deception and Related offences more than doubled between 2020 and 2021 to 17,030 before falling back to 11,569 in 2022. This was however 46% higher than the 7,912 incidents recorded in 2019.  

There were 69 recorded incidents of Homicide offences in 2022 and this compared with 63 incidents in 2019.

Recorded incidents of Sexual offences in 2021 and 2022 exceeded 2019 levels. There were 3,688 incidents in 2022 and 3,495 incidents in 2021 compared to 3,361 incidents in 2019.

The number of recorded incidents of Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassments & Related offences was 23,693 in 2022 and this was 9% more than the 21,836 incidents recorded in 2019. See Figure 2.3 and Table 2.3.

A number of crime categories were just under 2019 levels and these included

• Damage to Property & to the Environment
• Theft & Related offences
• Weapons & Explosives offences
• Public Order & Other Social Code offences and Dangerous or Negligent Acts.

However, some crime categories were still some way below 2019 levels. Burglary & Related offences showed the highest difference with the 9,453 incidents recorded in 2022 being 44% less than the 16,750 recorded in 2019. There were also significant differences in Offences against Government, Justice Procedures & Organisation of Crime with the 13,722 incidents in 2022 being 24% less than in 2019. Incidents of Controlled Drug offences at 17,321 were 19% less than in 2019 and Robbery, Extortion & Hijacking offences at 2,066 incidents were 12% less than in 2019.