Local crime on the rise

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

Councillors will be told at a meeting on Monday, that the crime rate in Powys has been rising this year.

The Economy, Residents, Communities and Governance scrutiny committee will receive a report from the Community Safety Partnership (CSP).

There, CSP co-ordinator, Fay Smith, will explain what is happening with the year to date data of the CSP priority areas of: vehicle offences, public order offences, violence against the person and other theft.

On vehicle offences, Ms Smith said: “Powys has seen an increase of 15.7% – a total of 140, up by 19 (incidents). Nationally there has been a 3% increase in vehicle offences.

“Powys has been particularly hit by theft of quad bikes over recent months. There is a partnership response underway, via the Powys Rural Crime Partnership including a bid to the (Dyfed-Powys) Police and Crime Commissioner for funding in relation to both preventative and enforcement activity.”

Ms Smith added that the police were investigating this area.

Public order offences, usually referring to the use of or threat of violence or harassment towards someone in a public place, has increased by 33% so far this year, a total of 352, which is up by 89 incidents.

Ms Smith added: “There are no trends identified. Nationally police recorded figures show that public order offences increased at a slower rate in the last year compared to previous years.”

Violence against the person has gone up by 16.2% a total of 1,739, up by 243 incidents.

Ms Smith said that this is category is linked to serious organised crime, adding that the Home Office had launched two strategies to try to combat the rise.

However, there will be some good news for councillors to hear. The category of “other theft” has seen a reduction of 21.6 per-cent, with the number of incidents reported as 537, down by 148 on last year.