Kirklees crime rate falls dramatically

Jul 2 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

“But it has fallen by more than 800 over the same period from last year which has to be good news.

“I know a lot of people feared big problems with acquisitive crimes, like thefts and robberies, during the current recession but these figures show that has not happened.

“There has been a lot of work done to target crimes of violence and vehicle crime and we have seen big falls in those areas.

“The one concern is the number of house burglaries but there are a number of initiatives to deal with that.”

The Kirklees figures were: Thefts - 1,334 (1,518 last year); burglary dwelling - 519 (500); robbery - 81 (85); vehicle crime - 734 (933); assault - 447 (546); total crime - 5,959 (6,829).

Across West Yorkshire, the total number of crimes fell by 6.3% from 37,832 to 35,440.

The British Crime Survey has also provided a better reflection of the true extent of crime because it includes ones that are not reported to the police and crimes which are not recorded by them.

The BCS showed the risk of being a victim of crime has fallen from 24 to 22%, the lowest level recorded since the survey began in 1981.

However, 65% of people said they thought rates had gone up nationally. But the same proportion again thought crime had fallen locally.