South Holland crime figures sees a 7% year-on-year rise

There has been a seven per cent year-on-year rise in crime in South Holland latest figures reveal.

There were 61 crimes for every 1,000 people in the district. That means around six in every 100 people was a victim of crime.

The figures for crimes in the year ending March 2022 have just been published by the Office for National Statistics.

An accompanying report - the ‘Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2022’ report said Covid lockdowns over the past two years have impacted the figures.

In reference to figures for the nation, the report said: “While periods of national lockdown have seen decreases in the incidence of many types of crime, fraud and computer misuse offences have not followed a lockdown-related pattern and have increased substantially.

“Since restrictions were lifted following the third national lockdown in early 2021, police recorded crime data show indications that certain offence types are returning to or exceeding the levels seen before the pandemic.”

The report estimates a 37 per cent increase in fraud and computer misuse offences across England and Wales.

South Holland figures show increases in the last year compared to the year to 2021 of:

- 33 per cent for sexual offences

- 45 per cent for non residential burglary

- 32 per cent for vehicle offences.

There were decreases of:

- 11 per cent for residential burglary

- 53 per cent for bicycle theft

- 38 per cent for drug offences.

The latest figures for South Holland are similar to crime levels reported for the year ending June 2020. The total recorded crime rate, excluding fraud, for the district that year was 64 per 1,000 population.

Rates of all recorded offences including violence against the person, sexual offences, burglary, theft and criminal damage were all either the same as in the year ending June 2020 or showed either an increase or decrease of one or two per 1,000 population.

Assistant Chief Constable Chris Davison, Lincolnshire Police, said: “We have seen some of our crime levels increase to pre-Covid levels, and some of this was to be expected as the county moved out of lockdown. However, we continue to show good performance against other areas of the East Midlands, with Lincolnshire showing fewer crimes per 100,000 residents than any other force in the region.

“We’re working hard to address the most concerning offences, such as violence, robbery, drug offences and offences against women and girls. This has been bolstered by our ongoing recruitment campaign, which has seen additional resources ploughed into our frontline policing teams.

“We are fortunate to have a supportive and diligent population in the county who continue to provide us with help and information that we need to combat offending and keep Lincolnshire a safe place to live, work and visit.”

A £400,000 project is being rolled out to instal high-tech CCTV in Spalding to help people feel safer on the streets, as previously reported.

Chris Dicks, chairman of Weston Parish Council and a former police officer, said we do live in a relatively low-crime area but more officers are needed, especially to deal with non-emergency calls.

He said: “That comes down to Government policy.”