National crime figures show a reduction in burglaries

Burglary in Humberside has fallen by 12 per cent with 1,188 fewer crimes reported year on year to March 2017 according to figures released today (July 20) by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) '˜Crime in England and Wales' report.

Assistant Chief Constable Scott Young said: “The reduction reflects our work with local communities to show people how they can make their property and belongings more secure. It also highlights the intelligence work undertaken by specialist staff to ensure we have a clear picture of burglary offending. This allows us to focus our arrest attempts on the burglars and handlers of stolen goods who are harming our neighbourhoods. We have also been focussing our patrols in the most relevant areas and at the right time to deter offending.

“Our enforcement is not simply reactively investigating burglaries by doing house to house enquiries and Crime Scene Investigation to capture forensic evidence. It includes carrying out warrants to arrest offenders and recover stolen property, conducting regular checks of the second hand goods market and conducting prolonged activity to tackle offending in higher crime areas as part of Operation Impact.

“We also focus on tackling reoffending of prolific offenders, working with the prison service, probation and prolific offenders to encourage them to seek support to tackle the root causes of their offending, this includes offering them a voluntary tagging scheme as a deterrent. However if they don’t engage, we put plans in place to disrupt their future offending.”

The ONS figures also report that Humberside has seen a 12% increase in overall recorded crime, which is slightly above the national average of 11%. This includes a 49% increase in recorded violence without injury, largely due to changes to the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) which has been developed to ensure it is firmly focused on providing the best possible quality of service to victims.

Recorded sexual offences have also increased in Humberside by 20%. Victims of these crimes have historically been reluctant to report them perhaps thinking that they wouldn’t be taken seriously. We’ve done a lot of work with vulnerable people to provide reassurance and give people the confidence that we will take them seriously when they do report these offences to us. This is helping to encourage people to report offences so that they can be investigated.

Assistant Chief Constable Scott Young continued: “I’m encouraged to see the work we’ve done with communities and offenders has had a positive impact, reducing the number of recorded burglaries across Humberside.

“But increases elsewhere should not be a cause for concern. Increased figures are expected and reflect changes to the way crimes are reported, introducing consistency across the UK and reflecting growing confidence amongst vulnerable groups to report crime to us.”