Big rise in Yorkshire crime as police cash cuts bite

Figures obtained by the Yorkshire Post show crime rates have risen significantly almost everywhere in the region in the first five months of this year compared to the same period in 2010.

North Yorkshire is the worst affected, with crime spiralling by more than 15 per cent in Harrogate, 13 per cent in Selby and six per cent in York, despite a force-wide fall of nearly six per cent”.

Over the same period, Humberside Police has seen crime increase by nearly six per cent and West Yorkshire Police by more than two per cent, with 46,675 offences reported so far this year.

Last month, Meredydd Hughes, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police – the only force where crime has fallen this year – became the first police chief to question the scope of the cuts.

The region’s forces are shedding thousands of posts as they attempt to tackle a £200m black hole in their budgets by 2015.

North Yorkshire Police’s Assistant Chief Constable, Tim Madgwick, has now urged the Government to reconsider its controversial sentencing review, claiming it will make it harder to combat crimes such as burglary if serial offenders are spared jail.

“The proposed guidelines are due to have an impact,” he said. “I hope the Government is going to see the light on this and realise there are certain categories of offences that are not to be played around with by politics.

“There are certain offences where people should know they will go to prison – domestic burglary is one of them. That is an issue where I completely disagree with the Government.

“There are other areas where restorative justice is an appropriate cause of action, but if you go out to commit a burglary you should go to jail. I have met too many elderly people who have been the subject of burglaries and it has completely ruined their lives.

“The recession is playing its part. There is a lag to some degree and we haven’t seen the full impact of it yet.

“I worry our most vulnerable will become increasingly so in terms of crime and anti-social behaviour.

“But the police are here to protect the most vulnerable and I feel we still have the resources to do that.”

A Police Federation survey about the Government plans to slash budgets by a fifth revealed 88 per cent of Yorkshire’s rank-and-file officers believe it will have a detrimental effect on crime levels.

Labour MP for York Central Hugh Bayley said: “I expected that crime would increase if the police cuts went ahead, but I never expected the tide to turn as quickly as this.

“The more the crime rate mushrooms, the more victims there will be and the greater the human and financial cost. These figures are deeply worrying and very shocking.”

Police claim many of the reported crimes are being influenced by the recession, with burglary, diesel and metal theft and vehicle crime all significantly up in many areas.

Coun Mark Burns-Williamson, the West Yorkshire Police Authority’s chairman and member of the region’s Joint Police Authority, said: “It is a concern that the first quarter does show an upward trend in terms of reported crime.

“The scale of the cuts is bound to have an impact. Potentially this is the beginning of that. Obviously we need to wait for more information over the coming months.”

But the Home Office maintained police forces can make savings while protecting front-line services and “prioritising the visibility and availability of policing”.

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