Throughout lockdown Neighbour Watch have been sending a short survey to their Associations across England and Wales every two weeks, asking them whether people in their area perceive that crime had gone up, down or stayed the same over the previous 2 weeks and what crimes people felt had increased or were more concerned about.

The results of each of the surveys were collated and sent to the Home Office to add a community perspective to the police recorded crime data they receive from police forces.

Initially most respondents (53%) reported that crime in their area had decreased since lockdown started. With people being at home the majority of the time there was a reduction in burglaries and in personal crime on the streets.

The types of crime that people felt were rising are fraud, car crime and thefts outside of homes.

Crime increased on driveways, in gardens and sheds, with thefts from and of motor vehicles and of garden furniture.

Fly-tipping increased significantly.

As time went on, antisocial behaviour was reported as a growing problem – perhaps due to young people unable to attend school and adults unable to work.

Drug-taking and dealing became more obvious as drug dealers and those buying from them were more noticeable.

Burglaries were taking place at the homes of key workers and their vehicles were targeted in car parks whilst they were at work.

As some of the lockdown restrictions were relaxed, concerns about antisocial behaviour started to rise further – litter and fires from barbecues at beauty spots, noise nuisance from neighbours and more people breaching lockdown rules.

So, basically crime continued throughout Lockdown although some types of crime reduced and some increased.

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-wasters do let me know, by email.