Crime figures are up 10% in the past year
Number of offences rises from 5,044 to 5,558
LAWLESSNESS is on the rise across the borough with figures for anti-social behaviour and hate crime soaring in just a year.
Violent attacks and domestic abuse are also increasing according to reporting figures from a council-backed community safety partnership (CSP).
The only offences to show a drop in the last 12 months are thefts from vehicles and robberies.
Challenges such as cybercrime and child sexual exploitation are also being recognised as emerging priorities.
The revelations came as the CSP oversight committee received an update on the district wide crime-fighting alliance.
A report detailed how an informal arrangement between Blaby District and Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Community Safety Partnerships was now a formal union with new terms of reference.
Councillor Chris Boothby, the Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council’s executive member for community safety and joint chair of the CSP, said: “Our two areas are similar and thus share similar problems and challenges.
“This strategic partnership has given everyone the opportunity to compare issues and the means by which they are addressed and has led to more effective use of time and resources.
“We have, however, continued to have separate operational partnership structures at a local level to ensure that, as a borough and district, we retain a local focus and tackle issues that are impacting on local people.”
Commenting on the figures he said domestic abuse was under-reported which meant more people coming forward was a positive move and a zero tolerance attitude to antisocial behaviour would naturally increase statistics.
Published figures of illegality reported to Leicestershire Police for April to September 2015 and the same period last year for the joined area showed total crime incidents up from 5,044 to 5,558.
There were 95 more domestic burglaries, 95 more acts of violence with injury, 52 more incidents of domestic abuse and 35 more hate crime offences - almost doubling from 44 to 79.
The CSP, though only recently merged, has seen close cross-border working since 2010, mirroring local policing areas.
Inspector Daniel Eveleigh, Hinckley and Blaby Neigh- bourhood Policing Area Commander, said: “Some of the crimes reported to us are at an elevated rate currently.
“This will be for a range of reasons, many of which are not always in our gift to resolve, or are owing to occasional spikes.
“For instance violent crime looks high but the numbers are low and I know of a couple of cases which included several victims purely because we engaged well with those reporting the incident.
“Burglary is also high and we have a range of resources and teams on that.”
Funding for the CSP, which includes representatives from both district councils, the police, fire service, youth offending and probation services and the county council, comes from the office of the police and crime commissioner, currently £65,700. This has yet to be confirmed for 2017/18.