Post by Taxigirl on Oct 16, 2003 9:49:59 GMT
Gun crime in England and Wales is still rising according to Home Office figures released on Thursday.
The number of crimes involving firearms increased by just under 3% in the 12 months to March 2003 compared to the previous 12 months.
The increase was lower than the 35% rise in the 12 months to March 2002 when gun crime rocketed from 7,362 recorded firearms offences to 9,974.
The total number of firearms offences for the year ending March 2003 was 10,250.
The figures suggest the growth in gun crime appears to be levelling out, says the BBC's home affairs correspondent, Margaret Gilmore.
Despite public fears, crimes with firearms still only account for a fraction of all crimes, she said.
Islington raids
The firearms data, which has been brought forward from its normal publication time in January, includes the number of deaths from firearms incidents and the number of offences in which no-one was injured, a Home Office spokesman said.
The data examined gun offences from March last year to April this year, and compared the figures with the previous 12 months.
The latest figures were released a day after more than 500 officers carried out raids in north London in what police described as a "pre-emptive strike" against gun crime.
Eleven addresses in Islington were searched by police in full body armour using battering rams.
Armed officers led teams of police, dog handlers and immigration and customs officials.
Twenty-one people were arrested on suspicion of drugs and firearms offences during the raids, which began at 0400 BST on Wednesday.
They followed a 60% increase in calls from residents reporting guns being fired or people carrying guns over the past six months.
The borough's chief superintendent Barry Norman said the raids were intended to stop people bringing guns into the area.
Meanwhile violent crime - excluding robberies and sex attacks - increased by 12% between April and June this year, according to the Guardian newspaper.
That was a "worrying national trend", it quoted Metropolitan Police Authority chairman Toby Harris as saying.
But overall crime rates are continuing to fall - along with people's fear of crime, the paper said.
In London, gun crime actually appears to be falling - although "the national fall in the fear of crime has yet to have such a significant impact on Londoners", Lord Harris reportedly said.