Of the 4.5 million total, 94 percent were crimes against property, and 6 percent were crimes against the person. More than half the overall increase of 672,000 offenses in 1990 was due to a rise in thefts, especially car crime. There were 32,000 more bicycle thefts between 1989 and 1990 (up 24 percent), over 180,000 more burglaries (up 22 percent), and 103,000 more offenses involving criminal damage (up 16 percent). There was a relatively small increase in violent crime, 4 percent compared with 12 percent in each of the previous 3 years. There was a small drop in the number of sexual offenses, while recorded crime generally increased in all police force areas. There was a 13-percent increase in offenses in metropolitan police force areas and a 22-percent increase in nonmetropolitan police force areas. About 1.4 million offenses were cleared in 1990, a 10-percent increase over 1989. About 90,000 additional notifiable offenses were recorded by non-Home Office police forces (mainly the British Transport Police). 6 notes, 8 tables, and 9 figures