Offences where a bladed implement was used (-4.4%).
Southampton Itchen MP Royston Smith said: “An increase in recorded crime in Southampton is highly concerning. The Government remains committed to tackling the sources of serious crime and bringing offenders to justice.”
Alan Whitehead, MP for Southampton Test, said: “It’s also the case that crime has risen in line with government cuts to key services and these services need to be properly funded alongside adding more police officers.”
In general, between 2019 and 2020 crimes in Southampton went up by 1.5%, the same increase recorded across the Hampshire Constabulary area. While crime in England has increased by 1.4% but in Portsmouth, it had gone down by 1.5%.
But the data have been described as “highly concerning”. The report revealed that drug offences in the city went up by 37.4%, followed by drug affected crime (+20.1%); sexual offences, particularly rape (+13.7%) and domestic violent crime (+ 9.7%). Other increases were modern slavery (+16.1%) and cruelty to children (+14.4%). But according to the document, the numbers for these offences are “relatively small and percentage changes should therefore be interpreted with caution”. Anti-social behaviour offences also went up from 7,765 cases in 2018/19 to 7,881 in 2019/20. However, there was a reduction in Most Serious Violence (-3.5%); arson (-35.6%), residential burglary (-12.1%) and offences where a bladed implement was used (-4.4%).