Reduction in violence but we won’t rest on our laurels

On Tuesday last week I attended the Renfrewshire Police and Fire Scrutiny Board where we presented the present crime figures as well as updating members on some structural changes to roads policing across the division.

The positive message to members was the overall reduction in violence across this area with one outlying upward trend for robbery. The upward trend in robberies has been consistent across Scotland and we are focused on tackling this crime type.

To put some context around the robberies, most are committed between people known to each other (drug debts, criminal vendettas) and the others are generally thefts where there have been threats of violence made, again mostly between criminals.

While I welcome this reduction in violence I am absolutely committed to further reducing it through continuing to work with existing partners and some new partners, including the Violence Reduction Unit.

I also reported on a significant increase in sexual crimes across the whole division, again a national trend. However, the level of recorded rapes in K Division is higher than most divisions.

Some context around these figures is required so you are not alarmed and I will provide this as succinctly as I can. Almost half of all reported rapes in this division occurred more than a year before being reported to the police, many cases spanning several decades.

The vast majority of these crimes have occurred indoors and between people known to each other. The actual number of rapes does not reflect the number of victims as one victim could account for many rapes.

Many of the reported rapes and other sexual crimes come about due to the professional work of my staff when engaging with victims of domestic abuse, where victims are supported which improves their confidence to report other crimes.

This in turn often leads to other victims being identified – as seen in high profile celebrity cases – where we proactively engage with victims to firstly support them and if they are minded, to report other crimes.

To tackle this increasing demand and ensure we are victim-focused, last week I authorised an uplift of officers into our Public Protection Unit to ensure we can respond quickly and professionally to victims.

I firmly believe that victims should not suffer in silence and encourage anyone who is the victim of a sexual crime, or any other crime, to come forward to the police where you will be treated with dignity and care.