Keeping crime low in a safe Horsham
Arecent survey carried out by Confused.com ranked the Horsham District as the sixth-safest place to live in the country.
The survey found in the Horsham District there were 0.86 burglaries per 1,000 people in 2021 with the number of burglaries decreasing by 21 per cent on average every year since 2017. The perception of Horsham as strong community with comparatively lower levels of crime is a contributing factor as to why our area is such a desirable place to live.
I know from joining on night shifts, just how hard local officers work to prevent burglaries, apprehend perpetrators and support victims. Despite our reputation there remains an unacceptable level of crime which has a real impact on victims and the wider community. Offences range from anti-social b ehaviour to extremely rare but hugely worrying incidents of knife crime.
There is still lots more we can do to ensure crime continues to be tackled, whether that’s from securing property (the subject of recent police “street briefings”) through to ensuring information is regularly passed to the police so they can build an accurate intelligence picture.
I am pleased that more officers continue to join Sussex Police and will further be able to help prevent crime and apprehend perpetrators. At the start of this year 76 new officers joined Sussex Police (their largest intake in recent years) and are the latest to join through
Operation Uplift – a national campaign to recruit 20,000 new officers across the country. Happily the cohort is drawing on recruits throughout the community it serves and for the first time included more women than men.
Our local police team are very proactive and continue to carry out patrols in areas of particular concern as well as holding regular street briefings across the Horsham District. However, the nature of crime continues to change, with more crimes taking place online. Whilst we may not see all our new officers “on the beat”, they are still doing invaluable work to protect those vulnerable to crime – being careful in responding to calls or on line contacts remains a key way we can help them keep us safe.