There has been a seven per cent drop in crime in Nottinghamshire over the last year.
The fall was far greater than the national average drop of one per cent – in the year to September 2021.
And the reduction is even more stark when compared to same period in 2019 – pre-Covid – with crime falling by a massive 17% in Nottinghamshire, compared to 1.5% nationally.
It means Nottinghamshire is now a safer place than it was before the pandemic, and is becoming safer at a faster rate than most other forces in the country, according to new figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), released today.
The biggest drop in offending in the last year has been in robberies and burglaries, where there has been a massive 22 per cent reduction in robbery incidents and a 28 per cent drop in burglary offences.
This means the figures have even continued to fall even after the country came out of lockdown.
Proactive work by the Force’s two dedicated burglary teams to lock up persistent and prolific offenders has led to a reduction of 1,773 burglaries between October 2020 and September 2021, compared to the same period the previous year.
The collaborative work between the Force’s dedicated burglary and robbery teams, as well as the Operation Reacher teams across the county, have played a major role in helping to drive down crime levels across Nottinghamshire.
Intelligence gathered by the dedicated burglary teams recently helped jail prolific burglar Mark Woodliffe, of Clifton, for 11 years in August last year, after he was found guilty of committing a string of offences across Nottinghamshire and the rest of the country.
Woodliffe was convicted on three counts of burglary and one count of fraud by false representation, with his crimes including the theft of an 84-year-old man’s wallet in Bulwell by pretending to be a council worker.
Chief Constable Craig Guildford, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “This is a massive team effort by our officers and staff whereby our collective endeavours have continued to drive down crime whilst other neighbouring areas have seen increases.
“Our teams have continued to focus upon those offenders who cause communities so much angst.
“We have adapted our approach during the pandemic whilst continuing to grow our numbers. We will have completed the national Uplift one year early by the end of March and our investment in technology continues to reap rewards, especially our automatic number plate recognition camera network, which is having a very positive effect upon organised criminality.
“Operation Reacher has seen even more visible resources allocated to local policing across all of our neighbourhoods and I intend to expand this and our dedicated knife crime teams further in 2022.
“Having dedicated burglary teams means the officers can have a very clear focus on getting the most persistent offenders off our streets and preventing families going through the heartache of a break-in.
“It is essential people who commit these kinds of offences are held to account for their actions and that we send a strong message out to the public that burglary will never be tolerated within our communities.”
The figures released today (27 January) by the ONS showed Nottinghamshire to have the biggest reduction in crime rates in the East Midlands.
Violence with injury has also dropped by 13 per cent over the last two years across.
Incidents of theft also fell by 16 per cent, while vehicle crime fell by 25 per cent.
Chief Constable Guildford added: “Our main objective as a Force is to deliver a service that works for local people in making our streets as safe as possible for all our communities, so it is pleasing to see that we are continuing to make genuine strides towards this goal.
“Our officers and staff have achieved some extraordinary things since the pandemic began and it fills me with an enormous sense of pride to see how hard they work to relentlessly tackle crime and safeguard the vulnerable every day across each corner of our county. I also thank the public and our partners for their continued support and the strong flow of intelligence that enables us to take swift action on their behalf.”
