Crime down in Nottinghamshire over the past year, says Nottinghamshire Police

Against many regional and national increases reported on in December, crime in Nottinghamshire has fallen over the past year.

Nottinghamshire Police said it was thanks to its hard-working officers and staff and its proactive approach to target key areas of threat, new year-end figures show.

Despite changes to crime recording rules, year-end data shows overall crime in Nottinghamshire decreased by 0.5% between the end of March 2019 and March 2020, alongside significant reductions in several key categories of crime.

The data, submitted by the force, reveals knife crime was down by 13.6%, stop searches were up by over 100% and prosecutions of drug dealers was up by over 100.

The force nearly doubled the number of firearms it proactively recovered last year with its relentless focus upon organised criminality.

Additionally, burglary fell by 2.9%, theft by 10.1%, robbery by 3%, and vehicle crime by 4.2% while recorded rape offences reduced by 12.9%.

Violence with injury offences fell 13.4% (-1,846 offences) in 2019-20, while all victim-based crime reduced by 2.6% (2,471 offences).

At the same time, possession of weapons offences increased by 14.4% (150 offences), showing officers are proactively targeting offenders and removing a greater numbers of weapons from our streets.

The introduction of dedicated teams to tackle robbery, burglary and knife crime are having a continued positive impact on the acquisitive crime figures.

Chief Constable Craig Guildford said: "These figures are encouraging and testament to the tenacity and hard work of our officers and staff.

"Through hard choices, efficiencies, careful planning and sustained investment by the Police and Crime Commissioner, we've increased our proactive capabilities, expanded ANPR and delivered a structure which delivers a service that increasingly works for local people.

"We've listened and responded to local priorities with our partners, honing in on problems which continue to threaten our communities including drug dealing, knife crime, burglary and serious violence. Our tough approach to enforcement has been supported with a sustained investment in grass roots level crime prevention to help our young people and support offenders out of the crime cycle.

"This is epitomised through our schools officers, the knife and hate crime prevention programme and our violence interrupters.

"We anticipate being one of a small number of forces in the county where crime has actually reduced which is a huge achievement, positive news for our officers, staff and most importantly, those we serve during these unprecedented times.

"It is also exactly what the public expects of us but we are certainly not complacent and we know there is more work to do as we continue to grow.

"We are proud of having increasing numbers of the right officers in the right place, gathering the right intelligence and taking the necessary action to make a difference to our communities.

"We are 12 months ahead of our national recruitment targets and will expand by another 150 officers this financial year.

"I will be deploying more officers into Neighbourhood Policing including more beat officers together with more cyber crime investigators and road crime officers."

Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping said: "These figures show the real progress being made to make our communities safer and tackle the biggest threats to public safety today.

"Investment in specialist teams to tackle knife crime, burglary and robbery are paying huge dividends and this work will only expand as we welcome on-board additional recruits in the months ahead.

"Not only are we seeing reductions in crime in these areas but also more arrests showing the hard-line approach to enforcement is working.

"I'm very grateful for the continued support of the public who provide us with information to aid this work. While we are clearly making an impact, there is no room for complacency and I will continue to support the Chief Constable with the resources needed to push our success further."

You may also like...

Boxers to KO Covid-19 with community support

YouTubers film inside the Corn Exchange years after it shut as a nightclub

Villagers send their Stay Home, Stay Safe message using their phonebox