Cleveland Police has made a strong start to the financial year, with total crime down 9.5% in the first quarter of the year (April – June 2010).
Other significant areas of reduction include theft from motor vehicles (down 29.4%), other burglary (down 29.1%) and criminal damage (down 20.1%).
Chief Constable of Cleveland Police Sean Price said: “I’m particularly pleased with the progress we have made in a time where cuts are being made to police budgets.
“The reductions clearly show our commitment to Putting People First – despite these cuts, we will protect frontline policing and continue to deliver a high quality service to our neighbourhoods. We recently announced a partnership with Steria to deliver a number of our support services, which will protect our staff’s jobs and see services improved even further."
Commented Police Authority Chair, Councillor Dave McLuckie “What the figures again demonstrate is our commitment to working with local people and tackling the issues which affect their everyday lives continues to deliver results. For example in the first three months of the financial year vehicle crimes were down over 28 per cent, acquisitive crime, which includes burglaries, was reduced by over 20 per cent and criminal damage was also down by over 20 per cent. The challenge now is to keep up the momentum as we move into a period where we will face enormous financial pressures, but we remain determined to ensure that we maintain—and if possible even enhance—our front-live services.”
Success in crime reduction has also been replicated across the Districts through a variety of initiatives.
In Redcar and Cleveland, a multi-agency approach to tackling the problems associated with alcohol and the night-time economy has been launched called Operation Harmony. This sees officers and partners patrolling and engaging with people to diffuse difficult situations before they escalate. During the first weekend it was run, there was only one incident of assault.
In Middlesbrough a number of initiatives have been implemented to tackle criminal damage and anti-social behaviour, particularly those offences fuelled by alcohol. As a result there have been 393 fewer criminal damage offences so far this year and 541 fewer incidents of anti-social behaviour.
In Hartlepool, strong partnership working and a focus upon neighbourhood policing to tackle underage drinking and anti-social behaviour through operations such as Stay Safe and Pipsol. These, together with a drive to tackle issues surrounding the night time economy, have done much to reduce criminal damage and associated disorder.
In Stockton, crime has been reduced by 11.4% in the last three months, which is an excellent start to the financial year. This has been achieved by a number of initiatives and operations. One of particular note was the response to the increasing trend of metal thefts. A small team of officers were selected to supplement staff already focusing on these crimes and in the first month of the operation in May, metal thefts were reduced by 36%.