ONS Crime Stats: 'Street-level' crimes down following increased summer of neighbourhood action
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We’re continuing to tackle local street-level crimes that matter to communities by focussing our efforts across Greater Manchester on shoplifting, burglary and theft.
Today’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) crime stats for the year up to September 2025 show decreases in GM for shoplifting (down 7%), robbery (down 10%), theft from person (down 24%), and burglary (down 24%).
This is all part of our commitment to faithfully recording all crime and investigating all reasonable lines of enquiry for all crime.
There have been more than 500 fewer burglary victims each month across GM since May 2021 (9,083 crimes in year to September 2025, down from 15,519) and we continue to commit to attending all reports of burglary, as we have done since July 2021.
There were 1,000 fewer shoplifting and robbery of business property offences in the last 12 months, and we will continue to work closely with retail owners and shopkeepers to protect their livelihoods and catch offenders.
We know that, while it is important crime is down in these key areas, we must keep improving our outcomes for victims.
Nearly twice as many victims of crime have received justice in the year up to Sept 2025 compared to the year up to May 2021, with 28,085 victim-based crimes solved compared to 14,268.
We are now bringing to justice 500 shoplifters every month in GM. We solved around 5,300 more shoplifting offences in the year up to September 2025 compared to May 2021.
We were previously solving hundreds of these crimes in a year (993 in the year up to May 2021) and we’re now solving thousands (6,295 in the year up to September 2025).
The latest figures released by the ONS include the impact of our increased patrols in town centres as part of the Home Office’s Safe for Summer campaign.
Seasonal reductions in theft (20%), street crime (11%), and serious violent crime (8%) came after we conducted more than 22,000 hours on the beat across 82 hotspots in between June and September.
In total, the action saw more than 2,000 arrests and more than 1,400 positive stop-searches.
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We have continued this increased local police presence over the recent Winter for Action campaign.
Our proactivity in stop-and-search has helped see increases in recorded drugs (up 33%) and weapons (up 11%) possession offences, with our local policing teams and specialist units continuing to increase its use of this key tactic in a professional and diligent manner.
Assistant Chief Constable Matt Boyle, GMP’s lead for local policing, said: “These latest crime figures speak to the importance that GMP is placing on local street-level crimes such as burglary, shoplifting and theft.
“The GMP of today does not dismiss these offences as ‘low-level’. Instead, we’re getting to grips with those who seek to do harm to others and make our streets feel unsafe.
“Ultimately, volume crime is committed by most criminals which is why it’s so important our officers are continuing to get stuck into the crimes that matter most to communities, to reduce harm, and to bring offenders to justice.
“Through robust crime-fighting, partnership problem-solving, and increased police visibility on our streets, we will look to continue to keep our streets safe.”
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