Austerity could be fuelling big increase in burglaries says MP

Police in South Yorkshire have reported “unexpected” increases of up to 40 per cent in the number of domestic burglaries in Barnsley and Rotherham in recent weeks.

They hope a new crime-fighting scheme, where officers carry out “targeted” patrols and give out burglary prevention advice at thousands of homes every month will halt the rise after proving a success in Doncaster.

Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis says the rise is linked to increased levels of poverty, while the Police Federation has blamed a reduction in officer numbers due to funding cuts.

The Labour MP and Shadow Culture Minister said: “It is important to place this in the context that crime is relatively low in Barnsley. However, I am concerned about what seems to be quite significant recent increases.

“None of us can say with certainty that there is a relationship between austerity and increasing rates of crime but the reality is that I know from contact with my constituents that people are becoming increasingly desperate.

“My instinct is that when people become increasingly desperate you will see more of this type of criminality.”

Rotherham has seen 253 domestic burglaries since April 1 compared to 186 for the same period last year, a rise of 36 per cent, while in Barnsley rates have gone up by 40 per cent from 152 to 213.

A scheme known as Optimal Forager has been extended from Doncaster into Sheffield, Barnsley and Rotherham with the aim of driving down the number of burglaries at domestic properties in the county.

As part of the project, the force analyses recent crime trends to work out where and when burglaries most often occur, so high visibility patrols can be in place at the time and location where criminals are likely to strike.

When burglaries or attempted burglaries do occur, a team of four Police Community Support Officers visit the victim within 24 hours. One will sit with the victim to offer them security advice, while the other three visit up to 40 properties around the victim’s home to ask for witness information, as well as offering crime prevention advice, leaflets and a property marking pen.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Stopford, the force’s lead for burglary, said officers had visited 3,000 homes in Rotherham since the scheme was introduced there last month. Burglaries have dropped in Doncaster since it was brought in there last year.

Mr Stopford said: “Of the burglaries we have had in Rotherham, 40 per cent are through insecure premises. That is the message we are trying to get out to householders. It makes it very easy for people to walk in and open doors and steal what they want.”

Recent figures showed that while overall crime levels in Sheffield and Doncaster were lower in April than the same period last year, rates in Rotherham and Barnsley had increased.

Mr Stopford said the recent rise in burglaries in Rotherham and Barnsley was “unexpected” and that he hoped the new methods would bring crime levels down.

He said: “We do have spikes in all crime types, they go up and down. Sometimes it is down to who is out of prison and who is committing these crimes, and how long it takes to catch that person.

“If we keep visiting 3,000 properties a month it will not be long before it starts to have an effect.”

Neil Bowles of South Yorkshire’s Police Federation said the rise, which has come despite a general trend of declining recorded crime, was “austerity beginning to bite”. He said: “Wages are down, benefits are down, youth services cut, probation service cut, officer numbers cut by a fifth across the board.”