Burglaries in Dorset fall by 37% during lockdown
But there was a rise in domestic abuse incidents
Even burglars seemed to be obeying lockdown rules in Dorset.
Figures show that all burglaries went down between March and September by up to 37 per cent.
Police and Crime Commissioner Martyn Underhill says that he expected domestic burglaries to go down because people were at home more – but was surprised there was also a fall in non-domestic burglaries, even though many commercial premises were empty for long periods of time.
“Perhaps they all have good alarm systems,” he said.
Also down, because of a lack of opportunity, was offences of shoplifting.
Other Covid effects include an initial spike in cases of disputes/anti-social behaviour, often between neighbours, but this later fell back down to normal levels.
There was also an initial drop in reported domestic violence during the period, although possibly due to victims being unable to call anyone to say what was happening to them.
Figures for domestic abuse incidents went up in the period, by 9per cent. These are incidents where at least one of the elements of domestic abuse is present but falls short of meeting the criteria for prosecution.
Thursday’s police and crime panel heard that ‘normal’ anti-social behaviour cases, such as fighting, were down, although the figures were up overall, largely because of people calling to complain about people breaking the Covid rules, which is listed on the police computer system as being anti-social behaviour.
Cases of serious sexual assaults have also dropped – the Police and Crime Commissioner speculating that at least some of that due to the shut-down of the county’s night-time economy.