A report on Strategic Assessment of Community Safety will be presented to the Fire and Community Safety Scrutiny Panel on the 18th October.
The report highlights projects and initiatives that the Community Safety Partnerships have been responsible for over the last year and details statistics of crime in the region.
On the whole, there seems to have been a reduction in most reported crimes, with the Isle of Wight lower than the SE region, as well as compared to England and Wales.
20% drop in anti-social behaviour
The Island has seen the largest drop in anti-social behaviour in the region but the one area where the Island is still higher is in ‘violence against the person’ with domestic abuse and sexual offences on the rise.
The conclusion of the report is that the Isle of Wight remains a safe place to live, work and visit.
You can read the full report via the Isle of Wight council Website (PDF), in the meantime, here’s a summary of the stats.
Reductions and successes when compared with 2008/09:
- All crimes – reduced by 10% (down 1,020 crimes);
- Arson – reduced by 17% (down 32 crimes);
- Violence against the person – reduced by 11% (down 271 crimes) in 2009/10 when compared with 2008/09. The assault with injury crime rate target of 6.55 crimes per 1,000 population as measured by National Indicator NI 20 was met (2009/10 performance 6.42) for the first time since 2008/09;
- Criminal damage – reduced by 16% (down 387 crimes);
- House burglary – reduced by 16% (down 45 crimes);
- Theft of motor vehicles – reduced by 15% (down 19 crimes);
- Theft from a motor vehicle – reduced by 25% (down 113 crimes);
- Youth offending (Under 18’s) – reduced by 18% (down 150 crimes). The largest contributing factor towards this was a 31% reduction in theft and handling offences from 213 to 147 and a 16% reduction in violence against person offences from 159 in 2008/09 to 133 for 2009/10;
- In 2008/09, figures for drug offences show a 14% increase (up 131 crimes). However, this increase is positive because drug offence figures reflect local policing priorities (i.e. whether or not police are proactive in tackling drugs) rather than the extent of drug misuse in the area. Examples of good practice in this area include: Operation Augustus (tackling and disrupting the supply of drugs), Iontrac Operations/ Operation Sheridan (port of entry operations), and Operation Regina (HMP drug supply). The total street value of drugs seized in 2009/10 was £710,855, a 63% increase on the 08/09 figure (£436,976);
- In 2009/10, there were 5,954 incidents of anti-social behaviour (ASB) recorded on the Isle of Wight, a reduction of 21% (down1,559 incidents) when compared with the previous year;
- Robbery – no change recorded in the number of robberies (23 crimes).
Increases when compared with 2008/09
- Sexual offences – increased by 14% (up 19 crimes);
- Domestic crime (abuse/violence) – increased by 12% (up 60 crimes);
- Fraud and forgery – increased by 15% (up 21 crimes);
- The rate of alcohol-related hospital admissions per 100,000 population (measured by NI-39) on the Island has increased by 15% in 2009/10 (736), compared with 2008/09 (697). Therefore, the Local Area Agreement (LAA) target on NI 39 for the end of year is likely to be missed. Although the 2009/10 rate for the last three quarters was behind target, the Isle of Wight still has one of the lowest admission rates in England on this indicator.1 It is believed that an improvement in the recording of hospital admissions (so that more admissions are being ‘counted’ towards this indicator) is contributing to the upward trend.
Full details of the report can be found on the Isle of Wight council Website (PDF).
