Dorset crime increases by 11 per cent

Latest statistics from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) have revealed that crime increased by 11 per cent across the county with Dorset Police recording more than 48,717 crimes, up from 43,990.

Of the increases across the nine main police crime categories, violent crime increased by 13 per cent from 10,438 to 11,892 while theft offences in the county broke the 20,000 mark with 21,364 incidents recorded - a total increase of 10 per cent from 2016.

Alongside this, robberies increased by 29 per cent with 286 reported cases, up from 221 in 2016 while sexual offences increased from 1,287 to 1,533, up 19 per cent on 2016.

Meanwhile, across the country, more than 4.8million offences were reported last year, an increase of 15 per cent on 2016.

Alexa Bradley, ONS statistician, said: “Today’s figures show that, for most types of offence, the picture of crime has been fairly stable, with levels much lower than the peak seen in the mid-1990s.

“Eight in 10 adults had not experienced any of the crimes asked about in our survey in the latest year.

“However, we have seen an increase in the relatively rare, but ‘high-harm’ violent offences such as homicide, knife crime and gun crime, a trend that has been emerging over the previous two years.”

“We have also seen evidence that increases in some types of theft have continued, in particular, vehicle-related theft and burglary.”

However, when approached for comment, Dorset Police said that the increase was due to the fact that more were people coming forward to report historical offences.

A spokesperson said: “We have seen an increase in total crime, which is reflected nationally with an average rise of 15.3 per cent seen across England and Wales, compared to 10.7 per cent in Dorset.

“Over the past two years, we have worked closely with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and the Police and Crime Commissioner to improve our compliance with complex Home Office rules on how crime must be recorded, which has been helped by the introduction of new computer systems.

“Like other forces, we have also seen crime rises in recent years due to increased confidence in people coming forward to us.

“This is particularly the case for crimes such as domestic abuse and sexual offences, where increased reporting follows a number of high-profile investigations nationally and work locally to support victims.

“The force will continue to place a strong emphasis on our reporting responsibilities, even if this leads to an increase in reported crime, as accurate crime reporting is essential to maintain public trust.”

However, despite the assurances from Dorset Police, Anna Harvey, deputy chair of Dorset Police Federation which represents rank and file police officers said she was ‘not surprised’ about the increases in crime with the federation stressing that the increase in crime was inevitable.

She added: “Police numbers are down, demand is up and therefore it is no surprise that crime is going to increase."

However, she stressed that police chief constables needed more funding from central government to help combat the increase.

Martyn Underhill, Dorset’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “While this partially explains why Dorset follows the national trend, seeing total recorded crime going up, it is also true that in some areas crime is genuinely rising.

“I will continue to lobby Government to reconsider the police funding formula, which disadvantages smaller rural forces like Dorset. But in the meantime, we cannot sit still.”

However, Mr Underhill added that a possible merger with Devon & Cornwall Police could help to combat the increase which could be aimed at delivering greater resilience to enable policing to continue to meet growing demand and operate effectively in the present day and in the future.

In other police crime categories, criminal damage and arson increased by 69 per cent (6,696 up from 6,330), public order offences increased by 9 per cent from 1,752 to 1,917 while theft incidents increased by 10 per cent (21,364 up from 19,394).

However, the force reported that drug offences were down 5 per cent (1,565 down from 1,645) along with weapon offences which fell by three per cent to 274 from 282.