“A stable and consistently high performing police force”, that’s the message from Deputy Chief Constable Rob Jones as the latest crime figures released by the Office of National Statistics show Suffolk remains in the top three counties in England and Wales where people are least likely to be victims of crime.
Suffolk Police and Crime Commissioner Tim Passmore said: “It’s great news to hear Suffolk remains one of the safest places in the country in which to live, work, travel and invest.
“Suffolk is a good force, but it is a small force covering a huge geographic area and is also one of the lowest-funded forces in the country. To be ranked third for the lowest levels of recorded crime in England and Wales for four consecutive quarters is a tremendous achievement and I’d like to thank officers, staff and volunteers for their unstinting commitment to maintain this favourable position.
"The decrease of some crime types is very encouraging but it is important not to be complacent. We are well aware the data does not show the whole story because too much crime goes unreported which is why we need everyone to report the crime when it occurs. The stats show we need to do more to reduce levels of sexual offences in the county, along with shoplifting and domestic burglary and I will be monitoring this through my accountability and performance meetings where I discuss performance with the Chief Constable.”
“Suffolk Constabulary continues to punch well above its weight in the national arena and we should all be pleased and reassured by this.”
The total recorded crime covering the 12 months to the end of March 2025 show that there were 57.4 crimes per 1000 people, a decrease of 3.1% compared to the previous 12 months. The national year on year decrease for England was 1.7%.
Knife crime saw a drop in offences recorded to -17.2%, following on from the 20% drop in the previous quarterly figures.
The figures saw drops in other various crime types including public order, stalking/harassment, theft from person, robbery, criminal damage, violent crime, drug offences and possession of weapons.
Based on the ONS figures, Suffolk Constabulary remains ranked third for the lowest levels of recorded crime in the country for the fourth consecutive quarter. During 2019 – 20 Suffolk was in 13th position in terms of its reported crime levels.
The constabulary continues to deliver a number of different activities and initiatives targeting knife possession, serious violence and other criminality where knife crime is often associated including educational inputs, weeks of actions and operations, knife amnesty bins and work to tackle anti-social behaviour, gangs and violence.
Deputy Chief Constable Rob Jones said: “We remain an organisation that puts the victim first, and with that in mind I fully accept these figures will mean little if you have been the victim of a crime. We remain focused on providing you with a high standard of support and that must always be a priority.
“It’s also, crucially, about how we engage with victims and witnesses - what we say, what we do and how we respond to people in need and how suspects are treated.
“However, for the fourth consecutive quarter Suffolk has the third lowest recorded crime figures demonstrating we are a force that is a stable and high performing organisation. I hope people can feel encouraged that these results demonstrate just how hard we are all working to keep people of Suffolk safe and to solve crime and catch criminals.”
“Crime statistics don’t give the full picture of a local policing service. That said, I am very confident that our neighbourhood policing model introduced in December 2023 has strengthened the relationships we have in our towns and villages. Community officers are strongly embedded in the area you live, while visible patrols and working closely with our partners and communities can and does tackling antisocial behaviour and crime. It’s all about being accessible and responsive, because we know how important it is for you to see the positive impact of local policing.”
The figures did see rises in recorded crimes for shoplifting (+10.3%), vehicle offences (+8.3%), domestic burglary (4.9%) and sexual offences (3.7%).
DCC Jones added: “We remain mindful of the detrimental impact shoplifting has as it can ultimately threaten the future of the business affected.
“Following the introduction of our Retail Crime Action Plan we have seen an increase in reporting particularly from larger retail outlets, some of which have made significant changes to their reporting policies and as such an increase overall has been expected.
“We continue to work to tackle shoplifting using preventative powers such the Anti-Social Behaviour Act to tackle persistent offenders, use of Community Protection Notices and Criminal Behaviour Orders. Our Design Out Crime Officers also provide crime prevention advice to many of the shops and business networks in our town centres regarding what they can do to reduce theft and burglary.
“In terms of vehicle crime, our local police teams monitor figures closely to help decide how best to use our resource and will take action if they see a spike in an area. This may involve proactive crime prevention awareness, extra patrol or conducting plain clothes activity.”
Plenty of crime prevention advice can be found on our website. Keeping vehicles safe | Crime prevention | Suffolk Constabulary
DCC Jones added: “Burglary is an extremely distressing and instrusive crime so, again, we keep a very close eye on figures. Our focus remains on the initial response including gathering forensics, house to house enquiries and searching through CCTV.
“In recent years Suffolk has seen a decline in the amount of residential burglaries – in 2021/22 there were 1.8 per 1000, whilst in 2024/25 it had dropped to 1.5 per 1000. It is also important to state Suffolk have consistently met the target of attending 100% of residential burglaries since September 2024, demonstrating our understanding of how serious we take this crime and the impact it has on victims.”
“Residential burglaries in the county are subject to review to maximise the recovery of crucial physical evidence. Any evidence recovered, particularly fingerprints or DNA, is treated as urgent with results being made available to investigators as soon as possible.”
Suffolk’s national ranking for lowest levels of recorded crime:
March 2024 – March 2025 – 3rd
Dec 2023 – Dec 2024 – 3rd
Sept 2023 – Sept 2024 – 3rd
June 2023 – June 2024 – 3rd
March 2023 – March 2024 – 4th
Dec 2022 – Dec 2023 – 4th
Sept 2022 – Sept 2023 – 5th
June 2022 – June 2023 – 6th
Dec 2019 – Dec 2020 – 13th
