WITH crime continuing to rise Greater Manchester’s interim mayor and police and crime commissioner has accused the Government of abandoning communities.

Speaking as Home Office figures published yesterday, Thursday, show a six per cent increase in recorded crime for the 12 months to September 2016, Tony Lloyd said: “Ministers claim that crime is falling to justify their continued failure to properly fund policing, but that simply isn’t true, both in Greater Manchester and across the country.

“As crime rises the Government still refuses to safeguard policing budgets.

“This year Greater Manchester Police is facing a £22 million shortfall, against a backdrop of increasing demand and more complex investigations.

“That is on top of £180 million already cut from the budget and 2,000 fewer officers.

“What message does this send to our communities?

“Local people have been abandoned by a government that has a duty to keep us and our families safe and secure.”

Violent crime, robbery and criminal damage have seen the biggest rise, with slight increases of burglary, vehicle offences and theft reports.

Figures for the last quarter of 2016, not included in the Home Office publication, show this trend continuing, with 216,493 reported crimes, an increase of 18,907.

The Office for National Statistics’ new ‘crime severity score’ rated GMP second in the UK for serious violent and sexual offences.

Nationally recorded crime has gone up by nine per cent.

“Greater Manchester is a very challenging area to police, and we are not alone,” Mr Lloyd said.

“We need the resources and investment to be able to meet these challenges head on.”

The statistics show that the number of crimes recorded has risen by six per cent to 204,536.

In terms of specific crimes, the number of sexual offences reported has increased by six per cent to 5,945, violent crime has shot up by 13 per cent to 53,776, shoplifting has risen by one per cent to 16,845, vehicle offences are three per cent higher at 23,806, theft is one per cent more common at 106,093, robbery has increased by nine per cent to 3,809, burglary has edged up by one per cent to 28,223 and criminal damage and arson has risen by eight per cent to 34,913.

However reports of drug offences have decreased by 23 per cent to 4,376.