Police resources still adequate despite crime increase, says MP

Speaking after spending a night on the beat with a rural response crime unit, Julian Sturdy, the Conservative MP for York Outer, reassured residents that the rise in crime is being treated as a priority, and said it was vital efforts continued to be stepped up to prevent criminals travelling into North Yorkshire from outside of the county.

A recent North Yorkshire Police Authority (NYPA) report showed crime is on the rise in the county for the first time in seven years, after 1,200 more offences were recorded between January and March this year compared with 2010, an overall increase of 0.5 per cent.

The force, currently making millions of pounds of savings in the face of savage Government cuts, has described the increase as “ultimately a disappointing position”. Crime has also spiralled by more than 15 per cent in Harrogate, 13 per cent in Selby and six per cent in York in the first five months of this year compared with the same period in 2010.

Mr Sturdy told the Yorkshire Post: “Any crime is a concern and any rise in crime is a concern. That is one of the reasons I wanted to go out on the beat.

“I know for a fact that the increase in thefts from farms and rural properties regarding machinery and metal thefts is really down to the price of commodities.

“The police have got to react to that. We have also got a problem with people travelling into North Yorkshire from other areas and I talked to North Yorkshire Police officers on the night about that.

“The main thing is making sure that police forces can work together. There is that information being shared but that can be improved.

“When criminals are coming in to the area, that does make it harder. That does not mean we should not do anything about that. Everyone hopes that we get crime figures as low as possible and that is what we will be working towards.”

Critics say the rise in crime is being fuelled by significant Government funding cuts to police forces – in the next two years North Yorkshire Police will have to find savings of between £9m and £11m, and the funding gap by 2014/15 is estimated to be more than £19m.

But Mr Sturdy said he believed the force still had the resources to tackle the spike in crime.

“I felt morale was high in the North Yorkshire force,” he said. “There is obvious concern over the changes within the force but the key thing for me is to make sure that we have the visible police presence that we need. We are cutting down on the bureaucracy and paperwork that hampers them.”

North Yorkshire Police officers have launched a number of new crackdowns to tackle the rise in crime across York, Harrogate and Selby. An operation on vehicle crime in rural areas of Selby was announced last week after 144 incidents have been reported since May.

An NYPA report, by North Yorkshire Police head of community safety Inspector Bob Mowat and Yorkshire Dales Insp Nigel Slater, has also recommended an overhaul of the way neighbourhood watch teams operate to help bring a halt to the crime wave.

The report claims the North Yorkshire Neighbourhood Watch Association, which covers 10 districts across the county, is suffering from a lack of dedicated support, communication, engagement, and knowledge and understanding of roles between members, the police and the NYPA.

Rural insurer NFU Mutual issued a report this month revealing almost two-thirds of its branches across the country reported an increase in rural crime. Nationwide figures show oil and diesel, metal, machinery and livestock were commonly reported stolen in claims by farmers, businesses and rural homeowners.