Gwent sees biggest crime drop in England and Wales

1:07pm Thursday 18th October 2012 in Campaign news

Gwent sees biggest crime drop in England and Wales Gwent sees biggest crime drop in England and Wales

CRIME is down 18 per cent overall in Gwent, according to the latest Home Office figures, the biggest reduction in England and Wales.

During the 12 months to June, 36,499 crimes were committed in the Gwent Police force area, almost 8,000 less than during the previous year.

There were 1,448 fewer burglaries (down 22 per cent), 60 fewer victims of robbery (down 31 per cent), 1,860 fewer vehicle crimes (down 31 per cent), 1,816 less instances of criminal damage (down 21 per cent), and 1,361 fewer incidents of violence (down 17 per cent).

The only crime rise was in the area of drugs offences, up by 19 per cent.

The 18 per cent reduction is the biggest of England and Wales' 43 police forces, with Thames Valley's 14 per cent reduction the second biggest.

Assistant Chief Constable Simon Prince praised officers and the public, the latter for taking crime prevention advice seriously and being prepared to provide information about those carrying out crimes.

He said information from the public is helping police operations on drug crime, which is a factor in the rise in recorded drug crime, the second highest in England and Wales.

Comments(13)

PontyPeter says...
1:43pm Thu 18 Oct 12

No Argus - REPORTED crime is down.
Actual crime is unknown. There are no figures for how many crimes go unreported.

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Howie' says...
2:34pm Thu 18 Oct 12

PontyPeter wrote:
No Argus - REPORTED crime is down.
Actual crime is unknown. There are no figures for how many crimes go unreported.
After the experience I had with the Police on a couple of occasions when either I or members of my family have been the victims of crime I see very little point in reporting crime for any reason other than getting a crime number for insurance purposes. I think a lot of people feel like that and you may well be right that crime has not reduced but is not reported.

Hopefully it is something that Ian Johnston will take on board if he, hopefully, wins the 'Police and crime commissioners' election on November 15th.

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spanner100 says...
3:52pm Thu 18 Oct 12

No small wonder that "Reported Crime" is down. What is the point of reporting certain levels of Crime, if you do you may be given a Crime reference number or told as i was by Gwent Police , "Bye Bye". when I reported, very late at night a neighbours Alarm sounding and odd movements nearby , the Operator took the call and said the Police would attend. Shortly afterwards I received a call from the Operator and was told that it was Force policy that unless I went to the property and checked to see if an intruder was present they would not call.Needless to say that I did not relish the idea of possible injury to myself so I told the operator what i thought of the so called Police Service.

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Dai the Milk says...
5:51pm Thu 18 Oct 12

This is a nebulous area of information and is meaningless. It deals only with reported crime not what has actually happened in the real world. In fact, it could indicate an increasingly disillusioned public, sick to the teeth with police response times in particular. How can crimes of this magnitude be down between 17 and 31% when actual police numbers are being reduced at an alarming rate? It is farcical if you ask me. A number crunching game to enhance top officers' careers.

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Dave on his Soapbox says...
6:21pm Thu 18 Oct 12

....it's been the wettest summer....just like the rest of us.... criminals and those anti-social elements don't like the wet.
With house owners leaving fewer windows open or staying at home...there's been less opportunity....
simples :¬)

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GwentVoice says...
6:30pm Thu 18 Oct 12

Perhaps with all the police stations closing but four nobody can report crime. You phone up and get a robotic, impersonal response but at least the wonderful chief constable can believe she's doing her job.

I've given up reporting anything, it's a complete waste of time.

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TK355 says...
7:11pm Thu 18 Oct 12

What is it they say about statistics?
I personally know of two crimes that were reported to Gwent Police recently, the response the first one was, quite frankly, pathetic as in their view a crime hadn't been committed yet to the witnesses, there most definitely had been. The second one, where two neighbours called in to report a theft, the police actually helped the offenders put the property back and told them not to do it again.
If they don't record crimes then obviously their figures will go down, that is all that matters to the people running Gwent Police at the moment so if Simon Prince is going to thank the public it should be for not bothering to report the crimes that make the lies oh sorry "statistics" look good.

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dodo777 says...
7:18pm Thu 18 Oct 12

Crime isnt down this is just tory spin because of the shambles of tory mps.

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Ricci says...
7:24pm Thu 18 Oct 12

The drop in crime is because people are not reporting it. When you ring Gwent police its a waste of time. They want you to provide the postcode of your location whilst watching boys smash someones head in.

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chris227 says...
7:58pm Thu 18 Oct 12

that is hilarious i myself went to newport police station in central newport asked to report a crime they told me to sit and wait a officer came out after literally half an hour they told me as the incident happened in bristol "go over there and report it" and what was it to do with them.

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Howie' says...
1:30am Fri 19 Oct 12

chris227 wrote:
that is hilarious i myself went to newport police station in central newport asked to report a crime they told me to sit and wait a officer came out after literally half an hour they told me as the incident happened in bristol "go over there and report it" and what was it to do with them.
Duh! You witnessed a crime in Bristol and then waited till you got home to Newport to report it..................
....................
...what a dipstick!

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Riley2012 says...
8:50am Fri 19 Oct 12

I have over the years reported crimes that have happened to my business property and customer's vehicle's, they not really interested??, but you grab the scum around the neck after catching them do the damage and give them a thick ear, then the police come out in van loads, if i could as a business what i pay in poll tax, i would quite happy have my contribution given back to me, they only help the low life and the genuine tax payer get's the raw deal as always.

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GwentVoice says...
1:45pm Fri 19 Oct 12

Bottom Line is

Gwent Police have made it nearly impossible to report anything. That way you don't bother and stats are lowered.

Not Rocket Science just a lesson in evading the issue.

Maybe another LARGE bonus to the Chief for doing her job

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