I start this month's newsletter with some positive news: reported crime was down in Warwickshire during 2018, according to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).  While the headline figure of a 1% decrease may not sound like much, it needs to be taken in the context that, across the whole of England and Wales, reported crime was actually up by an average of 7%.

Buried within the statistics there is some further encouraging news.  Across the various categories of crime across Warwickshire larger falls were seen including:

Some categories have, however, seen increased reporting year-on-year. As is the case nationally, violent crime offences are up, with reports of violence against the person increasing by 7% year-on-year, and non-injury violent crimes up 5%. In both cases, however, the increases were at a lower rate than national or regional averages, while violence which resulted in an injury actually fell slightly during 2018 in Warwickshire, down by 1%.

While the volume of knife crime incidents remains low, reports increased by 4% during 2018, though this was much smaller than the rises seen by the larger metropolitan areas across the UK and also remained below national and regional averages. Robbery and theft from the person offences, meanwhile, showed rises (23% and 10% respectively) and these will remain areas of focus for the myself and the force. 

There has been a huge amount of work carried out by my office, the police and our community safety partners in Warwickshire over the past year to reduce levels of crime, so these latest reductions are encouraging. I am sure the public will welcome the news that burglary, theft, drugs, sexual offences and shoplifting have all seen significant reductions in reports over the past 12 months.

We must not be complacent though and there will continue to be a concerted effort to reduce crime in all categories, with particular emphasis on the offences that cause the greatest harm and concern to the public. 

I am putting greater resources into Warwickshire Police this year to enable the recruitment of additional police officers and crime investigators to tackle these types of offences, alongside the many initiatives I fund to prevent crime from occurring in the first place. Overall, I am determined to see crime levels fall further to deliver on my promise of a safer, more secure Warwickshire.