Stalking and harassment offences have seen an 11.5% increase in Gwynedd, compared to the same period in 2023/24. Hate crime has also risen – up 16.3 % year-on-year

However, violence against the person offences have decreased in the for 2024/25, compared to last year. The figures were released in a Cyngor Gwynedd communities scrutiny committee meeting on Thursday.

Cyngor Gwynedd’s senior executive officer Daron Owens was presenting the annual update from the Gwynedd and Anglesey Community Safety Partnership and shared an overview of crime levels.

The partnership works according to an annual plan based on the regional priorities of the Safer North Wales Board Strategy, to prevent crime, and anti-social behaviour, nd to tackle violent and serious organised crime.

The committee heard that North Wales Police, along with the other UK forces, had been “tasked with producing a problem profile” focusing on stalking offences to “better understand the issue.”

According to the figures, for the 2024/25 year-to-date, recorded levels of sexual offences in Gwynedd had also increased, compared to 2023/24, Ms Owens’ report stated.

But there had been “significant fluctuations” in the reporting of the offences from week to week, partly due to the reporting of historic offences.

Analysis conducted at the end of May, 2024 had showed the increases in Gwynedd were due to “an initial increase, at the beginning of the fiscal year in the reporting of historic sexual offences”.

The report described how recorded levels of sexual offences in Gwynedd had “stabilised” over recent months, resulting in a reduction in the percentage change between the date of the offence and when it was reported to the police.

For all sexual offences, there has been a rise in the first three quarters of 2024/25 in offences being reported to the police over 12 months after they had occurred (51 in 2023/24 and 84 in 2024/25).

For rape offences, the increase was “higher again” with 22 being reported after 12 months, in 2023/24, compared to 51, this fiscal year:

Ms Owens described the age group and gender of the suspects in sexual offences in Gwynedd. The data showed that of the 163 suspects identified “over 90% were male,” she said. The figures also showed almost 25% of those were between the ages of 25-34.

The councillors were also shown data on “acquisitive crime” which included the categories of burglary; residential, burglary; business and community, robbery, vehicle crime and theft and handling.

The report said how both burglary; residential and burglary; business and community offences were “at the exact same volume this year, in comparison to last year,” with reductions being seen in the volumes of vehicle crime and theft and handling.

Domestic crime in Gwynedd had increased “very marginally (0.7%) year-to-date” compared to last year., but “as a whole” North Wales has seen “an overall reduction” in reported domestic crime.

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) in Gwynedd had also seen a year-to-date decrease of -8.8% in 2024/25, in comparison to 2023/24.