Leicestershire Police hail 14% fall in number of crimes

Police have reported a drop in most kinds of crime except house burglary.

The force said a policy of targeting a hard core of repeat offenders – in some cases getting them treatment for drug or alcohol addiction – was paying off.

Leicestershire Police recorded 25,000 crimes between April and the end of August – a fall of 14 per cent on the same period last year.

The overall reduction continued the trend of the past decade.

But while robbery, assaults and vehicle crime fell, the force saw a small increase in burglaries.

It is now running a campaign, Operation Dynamo, to address the rise.

Detective Superintendent Andy Lee, who oversees the fight against crime in the city, said the force was working "better than ever before" with other bodies in Leicester, such as the Prison Service and the Probation Service, to help steer people away from offending.

"We draw all our information together," he said.

"It may be people are committing crimes because they are addicted to drugs, have an alcohol problem or they're homeless. We can work with all of the agencies which specialise in these areas and divert people from crime."

The force has also been running crime prevention and personal safety campaigns.

Operation Dynamo, launched at the beginning of August, has seen more than 150 people arrested.

A dedicated team of detectives is visiting the victim of every burglary and ensuring an investigation is carried out and that crime-prevention advice is given to every victim and their immediate neighbours.

Known burglars are getting regular visits from officers to ensure they are not offending.

"I think people have also heeded those messages we have been delivering and that is helping," said Det Supt Lee.

"But we are still seeing on a weekly, if not daily, basis people leaving windows and doors open or valuables on display in their cars."

Chief Constable Simon Cole has said the policy of moving beat officers out of police stations and into bases in the heart of their patches was also helping.

As a result, Mr Cole said members of the public were increasingly likely to tell his officers who was committing crime in their areas.

A woman whose city home was burgled last year said: "It's almost a year since it happened and I'd say I've got over it, but not completely.

"It's always at the back of my mind somewhere that this person or people have been through every room of my house, rooting through my possessions.

"I'm much more security conscious than I used to be and I'm always telling my friends they should be the same."

However, Dr James Treadwell, a criminologist at the University of Leicester, said while police were getting better at dealing with traditional crimes such as burglary, some newer offences were not being counted.

He said: "A lot of people are victims of internet frauds and scams but do not report it, so those offences never find their way into the official statistics."

The force is reducing its spending because of Government cuts.

Barrie Roper, chairman of Leicestershire Police Authority, said: "There is much to feel optimistic about in these figures and we have to remind ourselves that it's still early days as far as 2012-13 is concerned to deliver improvements.

"The challenge for the next few months is to build upon this progress and turn around those areas in which we are not performing as well."

RECORDED CRIME: April to August

Offence	Total	Rise/fall*
Domestic burglary	1,632	+2.1%
Commercial burglary	637	-16%
Robbery	286	-35%
Theft from a vehicle	2,076	-0.4%
Violence against the person	5,226	-16%
Criminal damage	4,167	-22%
Anti-social behaviour	11,085	-19.9%
* Compared with same period in 2011