Violent crime has soared in Stroud over the last year, despite an overall drop in recorded offences. But with no official crime statistics yet published for the coronavirus lockdown period , police chiefs say their own figures show overall crime remains far below normal levels. Gloucestershire Constabulary recorded 1,978 incidents of violent crime in Stroud in the 12 months to March, according to the Office for National Statistics. That was an increase of 51% compared to the previous year. At 16.6 crimes per 1,000 people, that was far lower than the rate across England and Wales, which stood at 29.9. One of the main factors behind the increase in Stroud was the rise in violence without injury, which rose by 100%, from 300 incidents to 601. Offences of violence with injury meanwhile increased by 17% to 809. There were also 568 cases of stalking or harassment, up by 79% on the previous year. Overall, police recorded 3% more crime across England an