Dorset Police Commander - Crime down in Dorset County
One year on from taking over as Dorset Police Commander for the Dorset County Council area, Chief Superintendent Martin Hiles hails the work of police and partnership teams for a significant reduction in crime in the area.
Total recorded crime in the Dorset County section in 09/10 has fallen by five percent compared with 2008/09 – 300 less crimes.
There have been significant in-roads into tackling violent crime – the number of violent incidents has reduced by 5.3 per cent (218 fewer victims of violent incidents).
Dwelling burglaries have also gone down by 8.4 per cent (61 fewer victims homes broken into) and Dorset County currently has the lowest rate of dwelling burglary within the most similar divisions (MSGs) within police forces in the country*. Levels of dwelling burglary are almost 60 per cent lower than in 1998/99.
However, Chief Superintendent Hiles admitted it had been a challenging year: “The ongoing economic crisis has certainly had an impact, and we have had to continually find ways of working smarter with the money we have.
“We have worked extremely closely the councils and other partners who are absolutely essential to making our communities safer.”
Last year, the area’s priorities were to cut road deaths, protect vulnerable people – particularly domestic abuse victims, and reduce violent crime. Chief Superintendent Hiles continued: “We have seen a reduction in the number of domestic violence incidents –we have seen this type of crime fall by 5.6 percent on the previous year. “However, the number of people killed or seriously injured on roads has gone up by 2.6 per cent.
“Earlier this year saw the launch of No Excuse. This year-long campaign brings together key local agencies and combines enforcement and media tactics to crack down on anti-social and illegal driving. We hope this will have a real impact on reducing these statistics further.
“This year, our priorities are to reduce serious violent crime, deal effectively with crime and anti-social behaviour which most affects local communities, protect vulnerable people and communities and reduce road casualties. “We will continue to work closely with our partners and in the case of reducing violent crime – work closely with local authorities and licensing teams to ensure that alcohol is not being sold to underage young people and to enforce licensing conditions. “We will be ensure that there is even more support for domestic abuse victims and that they should be encouraged to come forward if they have been a victim of crime.
“Despite falling levels of burglary, people are still leaving windows and doors open so we will be publicising crime prevention advice through media campaigns and local leaflets and of course, doing all we can to catch and convict burglars.”
The latest figures for Dorset from the British Crime Survey on the way police and local councils are dealing with ASB and crime issues that matter are also up on last quarter. 53.8 per cent of people asked in the survey said they ‘strongly agree’ or ‘tend to agree’. This figure was 49 per cent in March 2009. This figure comes from respondents from surveys conducted in the 12 months ending December 2009.
The Dorset Community Safety Partnership (CSP) has set out the minimum service standards people can expect when reporting anti-social behaviour incidents.
This new charter aims to help local communities fight back against noise nuisance, vandalism, drunkenness and other neighbourhood problems.
And the partnership – which includes local councils and Dorset’s police, fire, health and probation services – has also pledged to target areas which suffer from repeated problems.
Chief Superintendent Hiles joined the County Division in March 2009 from Bournemouth and Poole. Prior to this, he spent 20 years at Avon
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