Crime rates rise as temperatures soar

 

26/05/2010

 

The recent hot weather may have been accompanied by a rise in crime, according to figures that appear to show a rise in calls to police over the past weekend.

Figures released by Greater Manchester Police show that last weekend – the hottest of the year so far – the force received nearly 12,000 calls, an increase of almost 20 per cent on the previous weekend. The Metropolitan Police, who normally get 5,693 calls a day, received a total of almost 16,000 over the weekend, according to reports in The Independent.

Strathclyde Police also reported a rise in calls. On Saturday they received 6,265 calls, a rise of 34 per cent on the 4,661 on Saturday 15 May, and on Sunday there were 5,709, up 38 per cent on the 4,152 received on Sunday 16 May.

There are a number of theories as to why criminality tends to increase during hot spells. Alcohol fuelled violence tends to increase a more people are drawn to pubs during the sunny weather.

Opportunist thieves are also known to take advantage of warm spells to enter homes through open windows or doors.

Barry Loveday, a criminologist from the University of Portsmouth, told the newspaper: "Obviously you can't blame everything on the weather. Sometimes crimes are committed and they have nothing to do with how hot it is. But it is true that certain crimes do seem to spike during a heatwave.

"If you look at burglaries it makes sense that they spike in the summer and drop in the winter because burglars, like the rest of us, do not like getting wet. It is all common sense, but I don't think the public realise. They often assume that there are complex forces at work which determine when crime rises and falls, but often it is simple things like the weather."

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