Wiltshire PCC: Increase in violent and sexual offences "incredibly worrying"
The latest Office for National Statistics have been released
Wiltshire's Police and Crime Commissioner has said that an increase in violent and sexual offences in Wiltshire over the last year is incredibly worrying.
New figures from the Office for National Statistics show that Wiltshire's force, in the year ending March 2022, are facing increased demand across a range of significant crime types.
There was a 10% rise in total crime.
Sexual offences have increased by 21% while violence against the person and public order offences have increased by 13%.
Philip Wilkinson said that now is the time to ensure victims felt able to report crimes and were then treated properly and fairly through the criminal justice system while expecting swift, and relevant, justice for the perpetrator.
Mr Wilkinson said:
"The increases reported in today’s figures are in comparison to the previous year, when many crime rates went through the floor as people were ordered to stay at home during the pandemic, however the increases in those particular crime types are incredibly worrying.
“In Wiltshire we have more victims than ever who need help and support to recover from the crimes against them and the extra national funding secured by my office means that specialist support is available for victims but preventing crime in the first place continues to be my priority and one victim is one victim too many.
“We know there is a major issue around sexual offences, especially those against women and girls and that is why I have invested in Wiltshire Police’s capacity, based on operational advice from the Chief Constable, by allocating more than £750,000 into a specialist team focusing on investigating and preventing violence against women and girls.”
However, not all figures are a concern for Wiltshire Police.
There was a 30% decrease in the number of drug offences in the county.
Meanwhile, Wiltshire has the lowest recorded overall crime rate per head of population of the five forces in the South West region - at 55.8 crimes per 1,000 people.
Detective Superintendent Sarah Robbins, head of Geographic Crime at Wiltshire Police said:
“The latest set of statistics reveal the real challenges that Wiltshire Police face, in common with our colleagues in other forces.
“The figures, especially in the case of sexual offences, in part reflect the huge amount of work we have put into encouraging victims to report crimes - we have been working hard to encourage community engagement and trust with our officers in order to reach out to victims.
“However, the increase in some crime types that these figures appear to show is a real concern. We never forget that behind these statistics are real victims and we recognise that there is further work to do in order to protect our communities.
“It is clear that we are facing a period of huge challenge and change with increasing demand on our officers and staff who are working hard to meet this demand. The recent HMICFRS PEEL inspection made it clear that we need to focus more explicitly on responding to the public and protecting those most vulnerable in our communities.
“To this end, a raft of work is ongoing to ensure the appropriate level of emphasis and resources are put in place to achieve this and we will continue to be transparent with our communities as we progress with these improvements.
“As an organisation we continually reflect on our practice to adapt and improve in order to meet the rapidly changing nature of crime and public protection.
“Working closely with the Police and Crime Commissioner, who has a vital role in holding the force to account on behalf of the public, we continue to seek to make constant improvements as an organisation."