Shropshire police chief welcome progress in tackling crime
One of Shropshire's 's top police chiefs has welcomed progress in reducing recorded crime, and said the force is focused on cutting drug related offences.
It comes after official national crime statistics showed there had been a nine per cent increase in the number of crimes recorded by West Mercia Police, which covers Shropshire, for 2017.
The figures also showed a 13 per cent rise in violent offences – although part of the increase is due to a change in the classification of the offence, which now includes stalking and death by dangerous driving.
Assistant Chief Constable Martin Evans said that a focus on cutting burglaries had worked.
He added that the force needed the public to be confident in reporting crime, even if it leads to an increase in the figures.
He said: “It should be re-assuring for our communities across West Mercia that our work to reduce the rate of recorded crime, especially compared to most other police forces, has been largely successful.
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"Local policing teams have been working especially hard targeting offences such as burglary and this targeted approach has seen very positive results.
"Although West Mercia Police has bucked the national trend in several areas of recorded crime we do know is that there is still much more work to be done and I am confident that we can build on the achievements of the last year in reducing offences in other areas such as drug related crime and violence.
“It is crucial that the public have confidence both in us and in reporting crimes and while this can lead to an increase in recorded crime numbers, it is important that victims feel they can come forward. We are not complacent about any rises in crime and we will continue to do everything we can to reduce and tackle crime and those responsible.”
The figures showed that West Mercia Police recorded a total 85,790 crimes in the year ending 2017. The figures exclude fraud offences.
There were 28,758 offences of violence against a person recorded in the 12 months.
There were 16 recorded murders in West Mercia and 10,518 instances of offences of violence with injury.
There was a large rise in the number of recorded sexual offences, with a 21 per cent increase. There were a total of 3,590 offences recorded.
The ONS also reported 6,412 offences of stalking or harassment being recorded in the force area.
West Mercia also saw 684 possession of a weapon offences recorded from December 2016 to December 2017.
There were falls in the number of recorded offences for drugs, down by seven per cent, robbery, down by three per cent, and theft from a person, which was down by one per cent.
Despite the, the Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW), released at the same time, stated that most crimes had stayed at the same level as the previous year. The CSEW assesses people's experiences of crime for the previous 12 months and is carried out using face to face interviews.
The CSEW said that eight in 10 adults had not experienced any of the crimes included in the survey in the past year.
Speaking last week the region's Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion said: “Recorded crime levels in West Mercia are rising at a lower rate than the national average and there are notable successes, in areas such as drugs offences, robbery and burglary. The official figures show that actual crime is still decreasing.
These figures show there is still much more to do, particularly around violent crime and sexual offences which remain key priorities. I am committed to delivering this for our communities “
