Police chief tells meeting that Gloucestershire crime is at a 20-year low (From Cotswold Journal)

Police chief tells meeting that Gloucestershire crime is at a 20-year low

3:30pm Monday 29th June 2009

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CRIME is at a 20-year low in Gloucestershire, according to Chief Constable Timothy Brain who said the results were not "flash in the pan" figures.

Praising the force's recent performance Dr Brain, who is standing down in January after eight years with the constabulary, told members of the Police Authority that crime was at its lowest level since 1990.

He said at the meeting in Cirencester, on Friday, that this year's low figures followed a pattern of falling crime over the last five years.

The number of offences committed in 2008/9 was 44,136, compared to 45,685 in 2007/8 - a reduction of 1,549 crimes or 3.4 per cent.

Impressive results this year included an 8.4 percent drop in violent crime, a 13.1 percent reduction in robbery and criminal damage offences going down by 12.1 percent.

Dr Brain said: "When I was appointed eight years ago, I made it very clear that the litmus test for whether we were successful was whether crime had been reduced in the county."

He said at that time the constabulary had "no real firm grip" on disorder and what it constituted.

"But I am delighted to inform you that, through a great deal of effort, we have seen crime hit a 20-year low in the county," he said.

Initiatives such as the night-time Streetsafe project and increased working with other organisations in the county were sited as factors that boosted the fight on crime.

Dr Brain made reference to the "big leap down" in crime that occurred in 2007/8 when the number of offences dropped from the previous year by 6,703.

"The good news is that it has been sustained, it was not a flash-in-the-pan figure," he said.

In the Cotswold and Stroud division, crime was slashed by 2.3 per cent from the previous year.

Domestic burglaries were reduced by 23.3 per cent and criminal damage in the area was cut by 9.8 per cent.

The number of drug offences detected was high but this was due to the pro-active work by officers who have busted a number of suppliers.

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