CRIME AT LOWEST LEVEL IN 15 YEARS

Recorded crime figures are down across the entire district according to the latest annual crime statistics just released by the Police Service.

Indeed all of the five council areas in H District are showing their lowest level of crime in 15 years with increasing levels of crime being detected and resolved to victims’ satisfaction.

The number of crimes recorded from April 2012 to March 2013 has decreased by over 1000 or a reduction of 9.8% against the same period last year.

This has come across nearly all major categories of crime; most notably 239 less victims of violent crime, a 35% reduction in robbery, a near 25% reduction in burglary and an encouraging reduction in anti social behaviour.

This reduction was the highest of all the eight police Districts and has significantly contributed towards an overall reduction of crime in Northern Ireland, which saw exactly 3000 less crimes compared to the comparable period last year.

The ability of H District police to detect and deal with incidents of crime has also achieved a high for sanctioned clearance rates with 28.4% of crimes “cleared”, representing an increase of almost three percentage points on last year’s reporting period.

The changing way in which police deal with offenders was also demonstrated with an increase in the use of discretionary disposals, which are victim led, focus on agreeing reparation and are only accessible for comparatively less harmful crimes. A total of 419 cases were dealt with by this method which, if added to the overall detection rate, would see it increase it by up to 4.5%.

Welcoming the figures, H District Commander Chief Superintendent Chris Noble said: “I am very pleased that reported crime has fallen to 15 year lows across Ballymena, Ballymoney, Coleraine, Moyle and Larne over the last year. Much of this is down to the hard work of police officers and staff during last year with a particular focus on the prevention of crime and intelligence led proactive policing.

“It is also testament to the trust local communities have in us as they report crime and provide information that every police service is reliant upon to prevent and detect crime.

“The Police Service does not and should not work in isolation and concerns identified to us by our communities have become shared priorities with local police, local people and local Police and Community Safety Partnerships working together to resolve them.

“This has seen a joint PCSP strategy in tackling agricultural-crime, initiatives like the Road Accident Causation Education program in Ballycastle or the Knowing the Consequences DVD produced in Portrush. Our Crime Prevention officers also play a significant role in the community, helping older people, for example, to check the credentials of callers through the Quick Check Scheme,” said the H District Commander.

He added: “These crime statistics also indicate that work with the Department of Justice and other statutory agencies, such as the Public Prosecution Service, Youth Justice Agency and Probation Board NI, in dealing with offenders is having a positive impact. Through our Reducing Offending Units we have been proactively focusing on the offenders at greatest risk of offending, challenging their offending behaviour whilst developing strategies to break the cycle of reoffending. This approach will continue to be developed over the next year.”

The District Commander went on to report that one offence area that has seen an increase is that of drugs.

“This is a success story for us as over the last 12 months, officers have been involved in a number of targeted operations, such as Operation Taurus, which resulted in significant drug seizures and arrests across the District. This remains a key priority for our communities and we will continue to work proactively in this area.”

He concluded: “I understand that large statistical reductions in recorded crime are of little comfort to those who have been victims of crime in our area last year. I am sensitive to the fact that every crime has a victim with an impact on an individual, a family, perhaps a business and the community.