Fraud arrests double in year

In Scarborough the number of fraud arrests have almost doubled in the last 12 months. Assistant Chief Constable Winward added: “Any rise in recorded crime is naturally a cause for concern and it is something that we are keeping a very close eye on. “However, there is a national context to the increases with more consistent and robust crime recording practices being implemented across the country. “North Yorkshire Police is also rising to the challenge of dealing with the growing issue of cybercrime and other online-related offences including fraud.” and sexual offences seen nationally was also reflected in North Yorkshire and is partly due to increased confidence in reporting these crimes to the police which is a positive development.

“However, we are far from complacent and have made a number of key investments including over £3 million to better protect vulnerable people, a new cyber-crime unit and technology to help in the fight against cross border crime.

“We are also in the process of recruiting more police officers and PCSOs and have created a new task force to tackle crime in rural areas.

“On a related note, I welcome the Office of Nationals Statistics’ new data on fraud and computer misuse which shows the scale of these crimes and will help shape the way the police deals with these types of incidents in the future.”

Assistant Chief Constable Lisa Winward added: “It is pleasing to see that North Yorkshire remains one of the very safest and low-crime areas in the country.

“We are continuing to work hard alongside our community partners to protect the quality of life by actively targeting crime and tackling anti-social behaviour.”