Weapons Crime: year ending December 2017

Firearms
Crimes include shotguns; handguns; rifles; imitation weapons such as BB guns or soft air weapons; other weapons such as CS gas or pepper spray and stun guns; and unidentified weapons. These figures exclude conventional air weapons, such as air rifles.

Sharp instrument
A sharp instrument is any object that pierces the skin (or in the case of a threat, is capable of piercing the skin), for example, a broken bottle.

Assault with injury and assault with intent to cause serious harm
Offences include injury resulting in permanent disability; more than minor permanent disfigurement; broken bones; fractured skull; compound fractures; substantial loss of blood; internal injury; lengthy treatment or serious psychiatric injury (based on expert evidence); and shock (when accompanied by expert psychological evidence).

Possession of weapons
Includes possession of firearms with intent, possession of firearms offences, possession of other weapons, possession of article with blade or point.

A comprehensive guide to crime types and definitions can be found in the User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales.

This page is part of our quarterly Crime Collection, which relies on two main sources of data.

Crime Survey of England and Wales
The Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) is a survey which asks people whether they have been victims of a crime over the past 12 months.

Police recorded crime
Crime that has been reported to the police, and recorded as part of police casework.

Data recorded by the police about crimes involving knives or sharp instruments are collected separately to other types of police recorded crime.

More information on both these sources can be found in the User guide to crime statistics for England and Wales.

More information on the methodology can be found in the Crime in England and Wales Quality and Methodology Information report.

Strengths and limitations of the data
The Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) has been consistent since 1981 and is the best source to use when looking at trends over time. It is also a better measurement of crimes which are less likely to be reported to the police, such as sexual offences.

Police recorded crime is a good measure for understanding how much work police forces are carrying out. It can be affected by changes in policing practices and victims’ willingness to report crime.

Time periods covered
The Crime Survey for England and Wales data on this page are based on interviews conducted between January 2017 and December 2017, measuring peoples’ experiences of crime in the 12 months before the interview.

The police recorded crime figures relate to crimes recorded by the police during the year ending December 2017 (between January 2017 and December 2017).

“Latest year” (or “latest survey year”) refers to the (survey) year ending December 2017.
“Previous year” (or “previous survey year”) refers to the (survey) year ending December 2016.

Reporting of knife crime can affect trends
Increases in targeted police action in relation to knife crime could lead to more knife crimes being detected by Police Recorded Crime.

It is likely that improvements in crime recording have affected some of the data in this bulletin. For example:

• around one-third (32%) of the rise is due to an increase in possession of firearms offences with intent – these offences may have been recorded as simple possession offences previously, which are not covered by this data collection
• around one-tenth (9%)of the increase is in offences involving some of the less serious weapons such as soft air weapons, BB guns, pepper spray and CS gas – it is likely that these are now included in police returns when previously they were excluded.

At time of publication, Greater Manchester Police were reviewing their knife crime figures, therefore data should be used with caution. Data will be updated following the review.

Other offences exist that are not shown in this section that may include the use of a knife or sharp instrument.