The line graph illustrates the number of serious offences that took place in London from 2003 to 2012.
Overall, it is clear that the occurrence of assault cases rose steadily and that of armed robberies declined considerably. The other significant feature is that number of murders committed remained relatively stable.
The cases of assault fluctuated between 2,000 and around 2,400 during the first six years, before increasing to a value of just over 2,500 in 2010 and ending the recorded period with about 2,700 cases. In 2005, the frequency of murder crimes rose to approximately 900, and then dropped to around 600 cases a year later and remained at a value between 500 to around 700 until the end of the period.
In contrast, the occurrence of armed robberies increased slightly to around 3,700 cases in 2004 before declining dramatically over the next four years to just over 1,000 cases in 2008. Subsequently, this figure rose slightly to 1,500 in 2009 and remained around the same level until 2012.