The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Sex crimes and domestic abuse rise in past year
The overall number of crimes in Angus over the past year fell from 9,608 to 9,401, which was a reduction of 2.2%.
During the reporting period the total number of reported domestic abuse incidents rose by 1.6% to a total of 1,140 incidents.
Chief Superintendent Paul Anderson’s report to Angus Council’s scrutiny and audit committee said the total number of domestic related crimes rose by 6.8% to 859 recorded crimes.
He said: “The overall level of incidents will continue to be a challenge for services in Angus.
“As some additional context. A victim of domestic abuse will on average be a victim of crime on 22 occasions before a report is made to the police.
“To address this Police Scotland continue to work in partnership with Angus Violence Against Women Partnership and other agencies to deliver a variety of supportive and preventative programmes.
“Awareness raising sessions continue to be delivered in relation to the Safe and Together Model, with one such session offered at the recent Protecting People Angus Conference.”
Further briefings have been delivered to social and family support workers with further sessions scheduled this month.
The overall number of violent crimes in Angus reduced by 1.3% from 1,358 to 1,340 reported crimes.
The total number of group 1 crimes (serious violence) increased slightly from 106 to 110; as did the numbers of serious assaults, from 57 to 60.
The overall number of common assaults reduced by 2.9% from 1,291 to 1,254 recorded crimes.
The overall number of reported sexual crimes over the period increased by 43.2% from 234 to 335 reported incidents.
Mr Anderson said: “This continues the year on year rise in this area and will remain a challenge as we move jointly forward.”
“The number of hate crimes in Angus did increase but thankfully there is no underlying theme.”