Crime in the Fermanagh and Omagh policing district has risen by 12.2 per cent from May, 2021 to April, 2022 – but despite this, the area had the lowest number of recorded crimes in Northern Ireland.

According to statistics released by the PSNI, there were 4,264 crimes recorded in that 12-month period.

However, while it is the lowest figure for the period, it is still an increase of 462 crimes when compared to the 12-month period from May, 2020 to April, 2021, marking a change of an increase by 12.2 per cent.

Mid Ulster was second-lowest, with 5,359 recorded crimes, up from 4,887 (an increase of 9.7 per cent)

According to the statistics, every policing district in Northern Ireland saw an increase of recorded crime in the period, with the Fermanagh and Omagh policing district seeing the fourth-biggest change.

The Antrim and Newtownabbey policing district saw the biggest change – an increase of 20.2 per cent in recorded crime – closely followed by the Ards and North Down district with an 18.7 per cent increase.

Biggest increase

Across Northern Ireland, the biggest increase in crime types recorded by police was violence against the person (up by 23.2 per cent), followed by sexual offences (which increased by 16.1 per cent).

Violence against the person crimes went up from 40,321 reported incidents (for the period of May, 2020 to April, 2021) to 49,674 such incidents (for May, 2021 to April, 2022), while sexual offences rose from 3,489 to 4,049 for the same period.

Figures for the most recent quarter – January to March, 2022 – show the highest quarterly figure over the past 10 years. The data shows that robbery (474) and burglary (3,820) crimes fell by 4.8 and 7 per cent respectively; however, all other theft offences rose by 11.2 per cent.

Public order offences dropped from 1,329 to 1,153, and drug offences had a very slight drop, from 8,339 to 8,330 in the period; however, overall police recorded crime increased by 11 per cent, from 96,332 to 106,900 incidents.