§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many drug-related offences were recorded in Southend in each of the last 10 years; and how many successful prosecutions were brought in each year, broken down by type of drug involved; (152202]
(2) how many violent offences were recorded in Southend in each of the last 10 years; and how many successful convictions there were for violent offences in each of the last 10 years. [152203]
§ Caroline Flint[holding answer 3 February 2004]: The numbers of drug-related offences recorded in Southend are not collected centrally. In addition, the specific drug offences in the recorded crime statistics, namely drug trafficking, possession and other drug offences, are not collected centrally for Southend. Again, it is not possible to provide prosecution data for drug related offences 1425W from the Court Proceedings database. Data for those proceeded against and found guilty specifically for drug offences in the last five years in the South East Essex Petty Sessional Area is given in Table A.
Recorded crime figures for six key offences are collected and published at Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP), and Basic Command Unit (BCD) level. The six offences include the violent crimes of Violence against the person, Sexual offences and Robbery. Table B gives the number of violent crimes recorded in the Southend CDRP since 1999–2000 which is the year CDRP data were first collected centrally. The available Court Proceedings data from 1998 are given in Table C.
Table A: Number of defendants proceeded against and found guilty for drug offences at South East Essex Petty Sessional Area (PSA)1 including those found guilty at the Crown court where South East Essex PSA was the committing court2 1998 to 2002 Proceeded against Found guilty 1998 263 248 1999 336 293 2000 280 252 2001 258 231 2002 235 205 1 Covers Southend and some parts of Rayleigh, Benfleet and Canvey. 2 These data are on the principal offence basis.
Table B: Violent crime offences recorded in Southend CDRP Offence 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–031 Violence against the person 1,46 1,414 1,444 3,043 Sexual offences 157 135 139 195 Robbery 166 148 217 313 1 Essex Police implemented the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) on 1 April 2002. Broadly, the NCRS had the effect of increasing the number of crimes recorded by the police. Therefore, following the introduction of the Standard, numbers of recorded crimes are not comparable with previous years. 1426W
Table C: Number of defendants proceeded against and found guilty for Violence against the Person, Sexual offences and Robbery at South East Essex Petty Sessional Area1 including those found guilty at the Crown court where South East Essex PSA was the committing court2, 1998 to 2002 Year/Offence group Proceeded against Found guilty 1998 Violence against the Person 421 171 Sexual offences 38 10 Robbery 38 19 1999 Violence against the person 353 162 Sexual offences 41 15 Robbery 28 17 2000 Violence against the person 290 127 Sexual offences 23 12 Robbery 28 12 2001 Violence against the person 351 120 Sexual offences 27 8 Robbery 31 13 2002 Violence against the person 292 145 Sexual offences 45 12 Robbery 49 15 1 Covers Southend and some parts of Rayleigh, Benfleet and Canvey. 2 These data are on the principal offence basis