Ron Hogg, Durham’s Police and Crime Commissioner, welcomes the end of year policing figures, which shows a 15 per cent reduction in reported crime.
Over 4,000 fewer people across County Durham and Darlington have fallen victim of crime following the significant drop in recorded offences in the last year.
Between April 1, 2012 and March 31 this year, 30,090 crimes were reported to police compared to
35,260 the previous year. Victim-based crimes – violence against the person, sexual offences, stealing and criminal damage – reduced by 14 per cent, meaning there were 4,506 fewer victims.
Mr Hogg met with Chief Constable Mike Barton at a force Executive Board meeting on Wednesday to discuss the results.
Commenting on the crime figures, Mr Hogg said:
“This is great news and these performance figures are extremely impressive. I hope that the residents of County Durham and Darlington are reassured to know that we are doing everything we can to keep them safe. We are committed to keeping crime low and these figures show that Durham Constabulary is continuously improving and addressing the needs of our communities.
Chief Constable Mike Barton said: “Protecting the people in our neighbourhoods and tackling criminality in all its forms is at the heart of our business and what we strive to do every day. The work we do with our partner organisations and agencies is paying off and making our communities even safer. The fall in reported crime is good news all around, especially for victims, but we are never complacent and our communities can be confident our efforts to reduce crime even further will continue unabated.”
Anti-social behaviour has reduced by 27 per cent and there have been 67 fewer hate crime incidents than the previous year, a decrease of 19 per cent. As a result, County Durham and Darlington remain among the safest places to live.
