Concern as figures reveal a rise in violent crime in Plymouth
THE number of serious violent crimes in the city has risen by nearly two per cent since April, it has been revealed.
Fresh concerns have been raised about a continuing rise in serious violent crime in Devon and Cornwall following reports that incidents of so-called "violence with injury" have leapt by 4.9 per cent to 5,231 across the two counties since the beginning of the financial year.
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Crimes of such nature are up 1.7 per cent to 1,223 in Plymouth, compared to the same period in 2011.
The figures, which typically include drunken street fighting and domestic violence, were presented to last week's meeting of the Devon and Cornwall Police Authority.
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They put Devon and Cornwall 33rd out of the 43 forces in England and Wales.
Attacks have been particularly high in Devon which has seen 2,520 offences, up 8.3 per cent.
While Plymouth, along with Cornwall, is one area where the crimes have been less pronounced, major concerns have been raised about the force's inability to combat the long-standing problem.
Independent member Jan Stanhope said she was "very concerned" the improvements were not what they hoped for.
She said: "We are almost at the bottom of the pile. We have a history of trying to control this but it has been going up."
Deputy Chief Constable David Zinzan admitted during the meeting that the figures were "not where we want them to be".
He said: "There had been a significant peak in that (violence with injury) and a great deal of time has been spent trying to understand what caused that.
"Some are linked to the night-time economy and there are clearly times and locations where we can anticipate problems and we have put resources into that.
"We are engaging with local authorities and working with partners to be fairly robust about licensing conditions and perhaps even closing the premises down.
"We are looking at repeat individuals that are prone to commit violent offences and targeting those quite robustly."
He added: "It also includes domestic abuse as well as looking at repeat offenders and repeat victims to make sure there are long-term intervention plans for those."
Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer also spoke during the discussion saying many of the issues and solutions were not solely in the "gift of the police".
He said: "This is to do with licensing of premises and how the courts release people back into the community.
"If we are not careful with some of the most violent offenders you get revolving door justice."
He added: "I would not want the public to be led astray that this is totally within the gift of the police service."
Comments
by TheStig
Thursday, October 04 2012, 10:06PM
“At the end of the day its all about finances police are underfunded. crown prosecution are takeing lesser charges to aviod trials. The current annual salary for an MP is £65738 with out his claim on his second house including things like light bulbs ohh and takeing his best man on holiday with him, ohh sorry bussiness trips as he called it. wonder what his wife called it any way mp,s have drilled the country dry! sack them all!”
by TheStig
Thursday, October 04 2012, 9:55PM
“police on friday and saturday work core hours normally youll start seeing walkers at 1am then a few vans and at critical hours from 5-6am they disapear! leaveing it to i belive 4 responce units till shift hand over. and these avalible units are tied up with domestics and paper work and other waste of time issues. if the counsil and gov are happy taxing clubs open till 8am then they should set aside funds for officers to be on duty at these high risk times.”
by belly1234
Thursday, October 04 2012, 2:15PM
“It is almost impossible to stop someone like the recently featured Scott Brelsford attack unless you have a whole load of coppers standing outside the door of every dodgy pub and club on Union Street, Mutley Plain and the Barbican. There isn't enough coppers around to do that. Therefore the problem must be dealt with robustly in court when offenders appear before a judge or magistrate. Puny sentencing does nothing as a deterrent, hence why there are so many repeat violent offenders.”
by Kwacker10R
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 5:05PM
“When the punishment fits the crime only then will it become a deterrent. The laws is too soft on these morons and needs to be toughened up!”
by sidewinder
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 4:14PM
“Does not surprise me...this City is fast becoming the thug capital of the south west, and the police need to get tough and get a grip.”
by Waltersmith
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 9:11AM
“@JonnyGlenholt
It could be argued that it is down to lack of any sort of prospects for these people.”
by josdave
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 9:05AM
“What a surprise - less police officers and, in the event the offenders are caught, lenient sentences handed out by a court that doesn't exist in the real world. Addict offenders should be made to do cold turkey that would be a punishment instead of sending them to rehab and then having to pick up the pieces when they re-offend.”
by blogtodi
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 8:39AM
“Drugs and alcohol... says it all.”
by JonnyGlenholt
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 8:24AM
“There are fewer frontline officers around. We've lost nearly 350 over the last couple of years, and in another 2 years we will have lost a fifth of all our police. We need a Commissioner who is going to stop cutting the police.”