CRIME went up by almost 5 per cent over the course of 2021, new police figures show.

Thames Valley Police data for January through to December showed 16,035 crimes were recorded in Slough -- 738 (4.8 per cent) more than over the same period last year.

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The figures also show:

  • Violent crimes went up by 10.3 per cent, a rise from 5,633 crimes to 6,211.
  • Sexual offences jumped up from 392 crimes to 455 -- a rise of 16.1 per cent
  • Robberies (of both residences and businesses) fell 25.8 per cent to 138 crimes
  • Likewise, burglaries (of homes, sheds, community buildings etc) also fell from 799 crimes to 607 -- a drop of 24 per cent.
  • Vehicle crime also fell from 1,969 crimes to 1,594, representing a drop of 19.1 per cent from the previous year
  • Drug offences saw a fall of 2.2 per cent and weapon possession offences dropped 49.4 per cent

A helpful interactive column chart shows how crime has increased or decreased in the past year.

The biggest movement comparing 2020 to 2021 came in the form of public order offences.

A rise from 1,327 offences to 2,354 offences represented a 77.4 per cent increase.

The largest fall in any category came in the form of robbery of business properties, which fell 50 per cent.

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However, the drop is larger because fewer crimes of this kind were recorded. In 2020, 10 were recorded, whereas in 2021, five were recorded.

The next largest drop in crime after weapons possession offences came in the form of residential burglaries of sheds and garages.

131 crimes of this kind were recorded from January to December 2021, whereas in the same period in the previous year 192 of these offences were recorded.

The figures come from a crime summary for January to December 2021 published on the Thames Valley Police website on January 24.