North Warwickshire sees crime figures take a fall
The Home Office has written to North Warwickshire's CDRP to congratulate it on its performance in bringing down crime in the borough.
The crime figures for the borough of North Warwickshire saw a healthy reduction for the third quarter of the year (Oct-Dec 2005 inclusive).
A survey was carried out by Warwickshire County Council on behalf of the borough’s crime and disorder reduction partnership (CDRP) which comprises representatives of the District Council, the County Council, the Police and other agencies involved in community safety.
This has shown that figures for domestic burglary, violent crime, vehicle crime and business crime have all shown substantial reductions compared to the same period – October to December inclusive - in 2004. The Home Office’s director of crime noted the CDRP’s reduction of 24.4% on total crime against the baseline reduction of 15% that had been the target.
Other good news has showed that residents are changing their opinions on their areas with 21.8% of residents indicating that they do not feel that anti-social behaviour is a problem in their local area, an increase of 4.7%.
Domestic burglary has seen encouraging results with a 25% drop in reports compared with the 2004 figure. Neighbourhood Watch has continued to flourish with 310 schemes operating in the borough, showing an increase of 11.3%. The Coventry and Warwickshire Community Safety Scheme, funded by North Warwickshire Borough Council and Warwickshire County Council, provided a security check and fitted window locks, chains and security mirrors to 90 vulnerable properties from April through to mid-December.
Smartwater, the unique DNA solution used to mark property, has been taken up across the borough. Community safety officers are attributing much of the credit for the falling rate of domestic burglary to its increasing presence as well as the growing awareness among the criminal fraternity of handling stolen goods marked with Smartwater.
Vehicle crime has seen a 29.3% drop in the total incidents of thefts of (down 39%) and from (down 24.8%) cars. The Vulnerable Vehicle Scheme, which runs throughout the year but is stepped up at times which have historically shown crime rates to increase, identifies cars which leave valuable property on display and gives them a leaflet advising on how to make cars less attractive to criminals.
Analysis has lead much of the activity in the borough. The most commonly stolen vehicles were identified through analysis and owners of those cars were identified via the DVLA database and contacted. Leaflet drops have also been used to target areas which are shown to be vulnerable with tips on target hardening.
Business crime comprising commercial burglary and shoplifting saw a significant drop compared to the same period in the previous year. Reports of commercial burglary came down 11.2%; shoplifting fell by 14.2%.
One of the most pleasing aspects in the figures lies in the incidence of violent crime. Nationally, results for this have been on the increase due to a change in the reporting process. North Warwickshire, despite adhering to the new reporting process, has bucked the national trend with total incidents down 21.1%.
Councillor Barry Beeson, portfolio holder for community safety with North Warwickshire Borough Council, said: “The partners in the safer communities partnership bring a wide variety of skills and disciplines in understanding what crime is happening, why it is happening and what can be done to prevent it. When that works well, as is the case in North Warwickshire, the natural result, as we are seeing, is falling levels of crime.”
Chief Inspector Chris Lewis, district commander for North Warwickshire, agreed: “What these results show is the value of neighbourhood policing. Through analysis, we have identified issues and where they are particularly relevant to areas. Then, we have worked with our partners in the CDRP to help empower the local community to protect themselves against the crimes that have been afflicting their particular neighbourhood. This three pronged approach – Police, local partners, local community – has put up a strong front in the face of crime which I am delighted to see the figures reflecting.”
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