Crimes down by 12,000 in a year
SHUTDOWN OF PUBS AND CLUBS DUE TO COVID MEANS COPS CAN FOCUS ON DRUGS AND GANGS
NEW figures have revealed the effect of the pandemic on the number of crimes committed in Nottinghamshire over the past year.
Official data shows that more than 12,000 fewer crimes were recorded as pubs, bars and nightclubs were forced to shut during lockdowns.
The pandemic has also meant police can focus on drug-dealing gangs and career criminals.
Chief constable Craig Guildford said the public has played a big role during the pandemic by noticing what is happening on their doorstep and reporting information.
More than £4m of cannabis plants and thousands of pounds of cash have been seized, after a series of early morning raids at residential addresses.
This continues following the introduction of an Operation Reacher team in every area of the county last year to disrupt and dismantle criminal gangs.
Police have also stopped suspicious vehicles on the county’s roads, taking guns, drugs and money off criminals.
Crimes including violence with injury, sexual offences, burglary, robbery, possession of weapons, and vehicle offences are all down.
But Nottinghamshire still has more crime than neighbouring counties such as Derbyshire and Leicestershire, according to the Office of National Statistics recent data.
Nottinghamshire had 1,002 robberies compared to 688 in Derbyshire and 895 in Leicestershire in the year ending September 2020.
There were also more burglaries,
including residential and non-residential, with 6,472 compared to 4,487 in Derbyshire and 5,677 in Leicestershire. There was also more possession of weapon offences, with 1,082 compared to 837 in Derbyshire and 781 in Leicestershire.
Mr Guildford said crime had reduced by 11 percent across the county - compared to an average fall of seven percent nationally and three percent regionally.
He said: “This follows a lot of hard work and the results speak for themselves. We have put in extra resources where they are needed and in the areas that people tell us.
“By careful planning over the past two years, the force will have taken on 250 additional officers by the end of March, with a further 100 new posts in the next financial year. We have invested in neighbourhood policing and given more teeth to our front line which was taken away during austerity.
“Crime was going down before Covid. Inevitably, when the nighttime economy opens up there will be an increase in certain crime types but what I do think, with some of the strides we have made in arresting drug dealers and banging up burglars and robbers, it will make a big difference.
“Drug dealing (offences) are rising because it is down to us responding to the public.”
Speaking about how Nottinghamshire’s crime rate still remains higher than Leicestershire and Derbyshire, he said: “That is down to history, geography, poverty and social economics. However, we are very much closing the gap.”
Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping added: “The figures were coming down before the pandemic started. It has helped in a way because there is no nighttime economy where violence occurs and lots of shops are shut so shoplifting is down and people are at home so that reduces burglary. We are in a good position.”
This is how crime has changed over the past year:
■■Total crimes: 96,608 recorded in Notts in the year ending Sept 2020, compared to 108,734 year ending Sept 2019. ■■Violence with injury: 10,779 compared to 12,946 the year before ■■Sexual offences: 2,940 / 3,395 ■■Robbery: 1,002 / 1,251 ■■Theft: 33,442 / 41,809 ■■Burglary: 6,472 / 7,560 ■■Vehicle offences: 7,343 / 8,660 ■■Theft from a person: 1,479 / 1,927 ■■Shoplifting: 8,821 / 11,270 ■■Bike theft: 1,519 / 2,107 ■■Weapons possession: 1,082 / 1,219 ■■Criminal damage and arson: 10,911 / 12,239.