Extra officers drive crime drop
Kent’s Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott claims the recruitment of more officers has led to a drop in crime rates across the county.
It comes as the Office for National Statistics’ latest data shows an overall 5% reduction in crime recorded by Kent Police in 2019/20.
This amounts to 9,392 fewer crimes in Kent than in 2018/19. Mr Scott, the elected Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “This is great news. Behind every crime is a victim, which means nearly 9,400 fewer victims. We are seeing the work of the last few years really bearing fruit.”
The biggest percentage drop was seen in public order offences (-25%) though 15,426 cases were still registered for the year ending March 2020.
The category to report the largest number of offences was violence against the person at 75,924 with theft following at 57,336 registered cases.
Significant drops in areas including death or serious injury by unlawful driving (-16%); bicycle theft (-21%) and stalking and harassment cases also fell by 12%.
The biggest rises in percentage terms were seen in drug offences - a 27% increase with 3,890 recorded incidents and possession of weapon up 25% with 1,697 offences recorded. Mr Scott added: “We now have around 550 more officers than when I was elected and the force is on course to soon be bigger than it has ever been.
“Some have joined the Chief Constable’s Crime Squad which has been targeting burglars and violent criminals. Hundreds of offenders have been charged and then sent to prison as a result of the Crime Squad’s work.”