(a)

Home Office figures released in January 2011 had shown that Devon and Cornwall was the third safest force area in England and Wales (53 crimes per 1000 population, compared to 75 nationally);

(b)

over  a 12 month period (up to the end of August 2011), Plymouth continued to hold a steady position of being ranked fourth best (of 15) in its family group of similar cities for all crime;

(c)

between 1 April 2011 and week ending 18 September 2011, the level of overall crime in Plymouth had increased by 2.4 percent  (234 crimes) compared to the same period last year; this was largely attributed to the increased levels of serious acquisitive crime, especially burglary dwelling and theft from motor vehicles;

(d)

crime levels were fluid and were sometimes subject to seasonal increases/decreases; a number of crimes can often be attributed to one or two known prolific offenders;

(e)

between 1 April 2011 and week ending 18 September 2011 the levels of serious acquisitive crime had risen by 16 per cent (an increase of 188 offences) compared to the same period last year;

(f)

the number of burglaries in dwellings had risen by 19 per cent (an increase of 85); thefts from vehicles had risen by 19 per cent (an increase of 90); despite this, in both cases, Plymouth had improved from fourth to third best in its most similar group of similar cities and were second best for theft of motor vehicle offences; numbers of each of these crime types are ‘leveling off’ at the time of this report;

(g)

the type of burglaries currently being committed were mainly break-ins into insecure premises which were likely to be committed by opportunist thieves;

(h)

some thefts from motor vehicles had included metal objects (from vans) and also opportunist ‘smash and grab’ offences where sat navs were targeted;

(i)

a wide range of work was being undertaken to address the increases in serious acquisitive crimes, which included –

?

the police undertaking a number of covert operations and activities;

?

running a community focus week in Mutley/Greenbank, which had led to arrests of offenders for vehicle crimes and burglaries;

?

preparing a problem profile on the hot spot areas for domestic burglaries which would help to further identify and target offenders and also determine times for additional patrols and interventions;

(j)

?

the crime profile report had identified burglary and theft from motor vehicle offences appeared to be being committed by a larger number of new/unknown offenders, committing a greater number of offences, rather than being linked to one or two known offenders to whom a large number of crimes were attributed.

(k)

the value of goods stolen from dwelling burglaries had decreased in the last 12 months (the value of stolen goods per dwelling in 2010 was £672 compared to £538.50 in 2011); high end value goods were not being targeted;

(l)

in order to encourage people to report crimes, the police through partner community safety events had been highlighting the importance of reporting crimes, including anti social behaviour;

(m)

there was no evidence to suggest that students were being victimised or indeed committing crimes; students tended to live in multi occupancy dwellings which were the least secure properties;

(n)

the police were concerned that information received on an informal basis might not have been logged by PCSOs (St Peter and the Waterfront Ward) as this information would not be included in any reported incidents data;

(o)

there had been multi agency support (which included PCSOs) for Operation Vocal in Whitleigh;

(p)

thefts from vehicles were mainly occurring on the public highway, outside of properties and overnight, rather than on private driveways or in the city centre car parks;

(q)

during the lead up to Christmas, campaigns were routinely run to make people aware that vehicle crime thieves operate at this time of year and will be again this year; people were also encouraged to hide sat navs and to also remove the mark from the windscreen;

(r)

the detection rate for burglary dwellings was 13.4 per cent and for vehicle crimes 9.4 per cent.

(1)

provide information to the police regarding the reporting of informal incidents to PCSOs (St Peter and the Waterfront Ward);

(2)

bring this item back to its meeting scheduled for 12 March 2012 for an update focusing on the Police’s experience of crimes, particularly burglary over the Christmas period.