Reported crime in West Norfolk up by 12 per cent

Crime has increased year-on-year in West Norfolk, according to the latest police-recorded figures.

There were 8,657 reported offences between April 2017 and March 2018, data from the Office for National Statistics shows, which is up by 12 per cent on the previous year when 7,727 incidents were recorded.

Despite the increase, Chief Constable for Norfolk Simon Bailey has said the force is "best-placed" to deal with rising demands and the changing nature of crime.

He said: "Officers are dealing with more crimes and this, coupled with the increasing complexity of offences and budget savings, means this is a significantly challenging time for the force.

“However, the restructure of the policing model under the Norfolk 2020 project means the organisation is best-placed to tackle this moving forward.

“These figures demonstrate the breadth of demand we are currently facing and underlines the need for a policing model to be flexible to meet this demand.”

Although the new figures mean there was a rate of 57 crimes per 1,000 residents during 2017/18, this is lower than the average in England and Wales of 82.

The statistics are based on crimes reported to the police, and the ONS urges caution in interpreting some of these figures.

Some offences go unreported while others may be more numerous due to a change in the focus of the police or greater public attention.

However the ONS believes crimes such as burglary and car theft, which are generally well reported and recorded, have genuinely increased.

The figures also show that gun and knife possession offences in West Norfolk rose by two to 60 incidents.

There were 508 residential burglaries reported in 2017/18.

There has been one homicide, a murder or manslaughter. There were three cases of death or injury by dangerous driving.

Theft, one of the most high volume crimes, has slightly increased by one per cent.

Drugs-related offences rose by 5.6 per cent.

Criminal damage, which includes arson and vandalising cars and houses, has gone up, from 1,103 incidents in 2016/17, to 1,212 in the latest figures.

While violence with injury, which includes assault, GBH and wounding, has risen, this could just be due to improved police recording as opposed to an increase in incidents.

Similarly sexual crime statistics are hard to judge as many more victims are now coming forward due to a series of high profile cases.

In West Norfolk there were 334 incidents recorded in 2017/18, a 27 per cent rise on the previous year, when 264 crimes were reported.

There were also 464 cases of stalking and harassment reported over the same period.