BSafe’s Delight As Crime Drops In The Resort

BSafe Blackpool has welcomed the news that reported crime in the resort has seen an overall drop.

Cllr Tony Williams Cabinet member for Culture and Communities at Blackpool Council, and also Chairman of the crime reduction partnership, BSafe Blackpool, has expressed his delight at the results.

The crime figures come at a time when Government Office North West has also congratulated Blackpool for excellent performance and improvements.

Cllr Williams said: “The good news is these crime figures show that the new Conservative administration’s focus to clean up the town is really working and that our own BSafe Blackpool partnership is setting standards that we should all be proud of.

“All the members of the partnership are doing an incredible job and they are achieving consistent results for the town.  I am very grateful for their efforts and extremely proud of their achievements.”

Cllr Williams was speaking at a recent presentation in the Town Hall to invited councillors, where he joined Police Chief Superintendent Russ Weaver to highlight the national British Crime Survey (BCS)* results for Blackpool.

The figures presented to the delegates showed that, when comparing crime figures from April to August 2007 to April to August 2006:

All BCS Comparator Crime reduced by 13.9%

All BCS Acquisitive Crime reduced by 29.1%

All BCS Criminal Damage Crime reduced by 15.1%

All BCS Violence Crime Increased by 4.9%

Whilst most crime reductions are on track to meet and even beat Government targets, disappointingly violent crime has in fact actually increased. However Cllr Williams also added that this increase is not all bad news and that the figures also had some encouraging indications.

He added: “Almost 25% of the violent crime incidents are actually domestic abuse, which of course is still a serious crime, and due to the nature of the problem we will never know the exact amount of incidents that actually occur. However, the increase does indicate that more people are reporting domestic incidents than before and are demonstrating confidence in our Police to handle these situations.

“As more people report domestic abuse, which I strongly urge them to do, the figures will increase, but hopefully we can start to deal with regular offenders and get the message across that this sort of violence will not be tolerated.

“Quite often it’s a small percentage of habitual offenders who commit high percentages of crime. It’s these individuals who must be dealt with efficiently and effectively through the system.”

Overall, in comparison to other regions, the North West experienced the greatest decrease (16.5%) in BCS comparator crime in the last three months (to July 2007) when compared to the same period the previous year.

This prompted a letter to BSafe Blackpool, in which Deputy Regional Director of Government Office North West, Gail Porter, says: “I wanted to highlight the excellent performance improvements across the region and to thank you and your partnerships for your contribution to that performance.”

Our performance brings us closer to meeting the Public Service Agreement (PSA) 1 priority targets, which have always been recognised as challenging for all partnerships.

Supt Richard Debicki at Blackpool Police added: “We are pleased with the very positive reductions in crime that we have seen over the past few years. The results over the past 12 months have been exceptional.

“Policing in Blackpool presents challenges for all of us, but it is a challenge we are determined to meet. Our goal must be to improve the safety and security of everyone who lives, works, or visits the area and the recent crime statistics mean that on the whole we are making a difference. Our falling crime rates and detection rates for crime are amongst the very best in the country.

“Our success continues to depend on the excellent partnership work ongoing with Blackpool Council, Health Care Trusts, and other emergency services.

“We recognise however that there are still problems to be overcome in terms of anti-social behaviour and other low level crimes that make people feel unsafe in their neighbourhoods and to that end our Neighbourhood Policing Teams will continue to work with communities to deal with these issues.

“I am determined to make life difficult for those who habitually commit crime in our area, making life better for law abiding residents and visitors.”