Pre-lockdown statistics show crime reduction

REDUCTION: Humberside Police have recorded a decrease in overall crime

Humberside Police have today hailed the first annual reduction in recorded crimes across the force area in five years.

A quarterly release from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) this morning has shown an overall year-on-year decrease of 3 per cent in total recorded crime, excluding fraud, for the 12 months to March 2020 - before the Covid-19 lockdown period began.

Humberside Police are one of just 16 of the 42 forces in England and Wales to have seen a drop in recorded crime in this period.

The publication also shows an 11 per cent decrease in the number of recorded sexual offences, which has remained relatively static nationally.

Crimes such as robbery, burglary and theft have also dropped compared to the previous year.

Nationally, robbery has seen an increase; however, the Humberside force has bucked this trend with a 14 per cent decrease.

Drug-related and public order offences, as well as the offence of possession of a weapon, have increased though.

In Hull, total recorded crime has decreased by 5 per cent.

Robbery reduced by 16 per cent, reported sexual offences decreased by 12 per cent and overall theft offences registered a 14 per cent decrease.

Vehicle offences were down by 18 per cent and reported burglaries reduced by 5 per cent.

Hull also saw a decrease in the in the number of bicycle thefts of 26 per cent and shop thefts by 17 per cent.

Responding to the release of the figures, Police and Crime Commissioner Keith Hunter said: “I am pleased that we are now seeing a reduction in recorded crime to supplement all the excellent reports the force has been receiving about its organisational turnaround, increases in morale and well-being of its staff, and recent improvements in the confidence of our communities in the force.”

Mr Hunter highlighted the recent success of Operation Galaxy, which has recorded over 750 arrests, charged over 200 people with crimes and seized weapons and millions of pounds worth of drugs.

“I want to see that pressure on criminals continue as we continue to build a police force that is recognised as being outstanding,” he said. “There remains much more to do and we are planning for the next stages of improvement but this is a real sign that what we have done is really paying dividends.”

Deputy Chief Constable Chris Rowley said: “We have seen a significant reduction in robbery, sexual offences and theft - all crimes that have a huge impact on their victims. Our teams are continuing to work hard to investigate reports of this nature and take offenders off our streets to prevent further incidents.

“Whilst we have seen an increase in drug-related offences and possession of a weapon, much of this can be attributed to the positive proactive work that we have been doing to seize drugs and take weapons off the streets.

“Our communities have also been fantastic in responding to our appeals for them to contact us with information about people in their communities that are involved in crime, which has enabled us to target our activities to have the maximum impact.

“Having more officers on the ground also means that we are able to respond to more reports of antisocial behaviour, which has led to us recording more offences.

“Our priority is always to protect the public and ensure we have a good understanding of our communities so that we can work closely with them to help prevent crime.

“We would always encourage people to report offences to us, so that we can investigate and take offenders off our streets.”

To view the statistics in full, click here.