Crime Stats For Hampshire And Isle Of Wight
Some types of crime - like sex attacks and arson - have fallen in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, but drug trafficking and possession is up.
Incidents of criminal damage and arson across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight have dropped by 31 per cent since 2008/09.
The figures come from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary’s [HMIC] annual Value for Money Profile, released in November.
The data shows that there have been 10,831 fewer reported incidents of criminal damage and arson within the two counties since the HMIC’s 2008/09 profile.
In 2008/09 there were 35,077 reported incidents of criminal damage and arson compared with 24,246 reported offences this year.
Of this year’s incidents, there have been 3,459 detections resulting in 2,202 people charged. Approximately 14 per cent of total criminal damage and arson investigations were solved, comparedto 2008/09 when the rate stood at 12 per cent.
Deputy Chief Constable Andy Marsh, said: "We are strongly committed to protecting our communities and we have worked consistently hard to do so.
“While I am pleased to see that work has paid off significantly in the last two years, good progress is not a green light for complacency. Hampshire Constabulary will not only continue to stampout this kind of crime but strive to catch more criminals and work relentlessly to protect the communities we serve, from harm'.
“I’m pleased that at a time of significant change and economic downturn that we have continued to progress in driving criminal damage down. I am confident that our commitment, whilst making substantialsavings, to protect the number of staff in safer neighbourhood teams, local response policing and crime investigation has made an important contribution to achieving these results.”
Violence against a person [VAP], sexual offences and theft incidents have also dropped since 2008.
VAP figures have dropped seven per cent with 26,034 incidents in 2010/11 compared to 28,074 in 2008/09. Sexual offences have seen an eight per cent reduction with 2,060 incidents in 2010/11 comparedto 2,236 in 2008/09, and stealing as gone down by 13 per cent with 62,389 incidents reported in 2010/11 and 71,963 in 2008/09.
Drug trafficking incidents have risen seven per cent with 858 incidents reported in 2010/11 in comparison with 2008/09’s 800 reported incidents.
Hampshire Constabulary has also seen a minor increase in incidents of drug possession with 5,019 incidents in 2010/11 compared with 2008/09’s 4,993. This one per cent rise in drug possessioncompares to a national average increase of four per cent.
Mr Marsh, said: “More often than not, people report offences such as criminal damage and theft as they are offences which affects their property. By comparison, drugs offences such as traffickingare much more covert so we must seek out offenders and their offences ourselves.
“The one per cent rise in incidents shows that we are still finding these people and bringing them to justice.”
