Crackdown on crime hot-spots
A crime crackdown has been ordered after Houghton was found to have the “highest burglary rate in the Sunderland City region”.
According to Northumbria Police, efforts to tackle burglary and drug hot-spots in Sunderland are being stepped up following a “significant increase” in drug crime in the Coalfield area over recent months.
The action has been ordered after figures for the rest of the region reportedly showedastablelevelofreported break-ins over the previous two reporting periods.
And while force chiefs have stressed action is being taken on both issues, they have also claimed the rise in recorded drug crimes has been a result of their work so far.
Acting Inspector Patrick Scottsaid:“Thereasonbehind that is proactive work being done by police in the area.
"That’s led to detection of a large number of drug offences duetotheactivityoftheteams.
“Counterintuitively, it’s probably a reflection of good police work.”
Reflected on stubbornly high burglary rates, he insisted
positive progress had been made, adding: “We have tackled this with a new problem solving approach working in collaboration with partners and we have had some good results already.
“Ournumberonetargetwe managed to arrest earlier this month, so we are starting to see some good results around that one.”
However, despite the force’s assurances, members of Sunderland City Council’s Coalfield Area Committee, which met last week (Wednesday, March 16), remained concerned about the latest statistics.
Cllr Kevin Johnston raised the need for action against repeat offenders.
He said: “I think the police need to be backed up by the courts a lot more than they’ve been doing – we’re frustrated, I’m presuming the police are just as frustrated.”
Officers also noted a “very, very large” proportion of overnight incidents involving sheds, commercial properties and vacant buildings, and insistedtheydosupportvictims.
Acting Inspector Scott added: “We recognise it’s one of the most impactful offences that you can have committed against you, it’s awful.
“If someone should unfortunately be a victim of domestic burglary, then all of our victims of crime will be referred to Victims First Northumbria for support.”