The US President Donald Trump had expressed concerns over the increase in crimes in britain. A report released by the Office for National Statistics has revealed that the overall number of offenses registered by police forces had gone up by 13% in the 12-month period up to June. Apparently, it has risen from 4.6m to 5.2m.
Reacting to this, President Trump commented that the increase could be due to Islamic terrorism. He added that America must be kept safe from such crimes. His comments have not gone down well with British MPs who have accused him of generating a fear psychosis.
Some of them have termed the observations as ignorant statements and have even asked Prime Minister Theresa May to condemn them in public. There are plans for Trump to visit Britain and questions are raised on whether the red carpet should be rolled out to welcome him.
The facts of the case
Sky News reports that according to the report of the Office for National Statistics, there has been an increase in different types of crimes in Britain in the period ending June. Attempted murders increased by 59%, and the London and Manchester terrorist attacks contributed to the sudden spurt. A total of 294 attempted murders were recorded in these attacks which distorted the figures. However, the report was not confined to only terror offenses but covered all forms of crime from burglary to fraud.
In fact, it was an overview of crimes in general during the period and was pertaining to only England and Wales. It did not cover the whole of Britain as interpreted by President Donald Trump
Increase in hate crimes
As to hate crimes, these also showed an upward trend. A Home Office report has indicated that such crimes went up from 62,518 in 2015/16 to 80,393 in 206/17 which works out to an increase of nearly 30%.
One of the MPs attributed this to irresponsible statements that leaders make without verifying the facts.
It may be recalled that Donald Trump had raised a major controversy on an earlier occasion on the subject of terrorism in Britain. During his election campaign, he had mentioned about the UK having a problem with Muslims, and had talked about certain parts of London that faced problems of radicalization.
At that time, David Cameron was the prime minister.
More recently, there was an unpleasant exchange of words between Trump and London Mayor Sadiq Khan. It was against the backdrop of the terrorist attack at London Bridge and Borough Market in June last in which seven people died. The incident resulted in a demand to cancel the proposed visit of the US president to Britain.
