7:14am Thursday 24th July 2008
By Adam Gaudry
CRIME figures show ups and down for residents of Chelmsford.
Crime numbers recorded between July 2007 and June 2008 and published by Essex Police, show a mixture of rises and falls for different types of crime in the Chelmsford policing area.
When compared with the previous year (between July 2006 and June 2007), the largest rise was the 10.6 per cent rise in the number of robberies, which changed from 94 to 104 incidents.
The biggest drop seen in the past year was the 40.6 per cent fall in the number of thefts from a vehicle, which fell from 1,054 to 626 incidents.
Acts of anti-social behaviour have fallen by 19.4 per cent, from 9,102 to 7,336 incidents, while cases of criminal damage have also dropped by 5.3 per cent, from 2,129 to 2,017 incidents.
Burglaries have dropped by 9.8 per cent, from 399 to 360 recorded incidents, while thefts of vehicles have risen by 9.4 per cent, from 320 to 350 cases.
A total of 46 serious violent crimes took place between July 2007 and June 2008, while 923 assaults with injuries took place in the same period.
Essex Police has recently released its countywide figures, which showed that the total number of crimes had fallen by 6 per cent for the 2007 to 2008 period.
There was also an Essex-wide 14 per cent reduction in robberies, a 6 per cent fall in sexual offences, a 17 per cent fall in vehicle crime, a 2 per cent fall in theft and a 12 per cent fall in criminal damage.
Grievous bodily harm (GBH) and actual bodily harm (ABH) offences also dropped 9 per cent countywide, while fear of crime was reported to have dropped.
Andy Bliss, deputy chief constable of Essex Police, said: "It is pleasing to see that Essex has again seen a fall in the level of crime committed in our county at the same time as we continue to see an increase in the proportion of crime we detect.
"This is a clear signal that our work with local people and local agencies is delivering tangible results."
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