Market Drayton police call-out figures fall by 10%
The number of incidents reported to police in a Shropshire market town dropped by about 10 per last year, new figures revealed today.
Market Drayton Police responded to 2,711 incidents in the last 12 months. This compares to the 2,974 incidents responded to in 2014/15 – a total reduction of 263.
There have also been 124 arrests in the last 12 months in the town.
Constable Mick Sturland, of the safer neighbourhood team for Market Drayton, said demand on police in the town was still high.
He added: "We get about 52 incidents a week. This is proof that the demand on police is high. Figures quoted are for the Market Drayton town area only, not the rural.
"This is all calls made to police from 999 calls to diary appointments for less urgent requests. We don't suffer one type of call-out that stands out. We do get spikes in calls, so for example if we suffered a spate of burglaries, a lot of calls would be to report burglaries.
"Generally though, we get calls about domestic disputes, anti-social behaviour, assaults, damage, burglary and a few others as a main bulk of our work.
"This year the safer neighbourhood team will be focusing on engagement opportunities and bringing more of our partners in to jointly tackle issues and take on responsibility for aspects of work that sit with them specifically.
"We will also be pushing our 'We Don't Buy Crime' initiative, Shopwatch and Pubwatch schemes, looking at further rural action days, multi-agency vehicle checks and looking to promote force-wide initiatives such a rural and boat watch."
The figures have received a positive reaction from town councillors. Councillor Roy Aldcroft, mayor of Market Drayton, said: "This is good news for the town. There have been one or two initiatives which have been successful in driving down crime in the town.
"However, these figures are reported crime and with the closure of reception at Market Drayton Police Station that might be one of the reasons why figures have gone down as less people are able to report the crime. We are a low crime area and very lucky to live here.
"Most of the crime we get is mostly nuisance low level crime."
Recorded crime in the West Mercia Police area increased by 12 per cent in 2015, with sex offences and violent crimes showing the biggest increase.
West Mercia's overall increase in crime was three times the national average of four per cent, and was the highest in the West Midlands.
