You can't read too much into the statistics.
My shed got broken into last night. Nothing appears stolen, though when the same thing happened a year or so ago my lawn-mower petrol can disappeared, with about £5 worth of petrol. Twenty years ago I'd have reported both incidents and they would have figured on the statistics. Nowadays my experience is that the police aren't the least bit interested in petty crime, and the phone call would be a complete waste of breath.
And I have some sympathy... the police are so under-resourced that conscience prevents me from reporting such a trivial matter. Even if the local cop-shop has time on their hands, I'd far rather they put some effort into prosecuting the traffic that speeds through the village, safe in the knowledge that as long as there's no camera-van, there's no risk.
Nevertheless, I suspect such pragmatism accounts for a large part of the reduction in
'reported crime' .
