Figures released this week from Humberside Police show that crime levels in the borough are heading in the right direction. 

2009 was a successful year in terms of crime levels and January this year was the most successful on record. The news about January was reported on this website and in the Grimsby Evening Telegraph; however, the headline should have been very positive but instead it turned out to be somewhat negative. 

Chief Superintendent David Hilditch who is passionate about North East Lincolnshire was delighted about the latest crime figures, but not with the way it was reported in the media, David therefore as decided to put pen to paper in article for this website:

Chief Superintendent David Hilditch, Divisional Commander for the police in North East Lincolnshire said:

“The latest monthly crime figures for January 2010 are an incredibly good news story for us. January’s crime figures are the lowest since we started our computerised system in 1996. From what I remember of the rate crime was increasing in the late nineties I would guess that this is the lowest figure for some years before even 1996.

“This is brilliant news for North East Lincolnshire. Sadly, the way this story was reported in the Grimsby Telegraph yesterday (Thursday 4th February) turned this brilliant news into a bit of a damp squib by focusing on a debate about unreported crime. By doing that I think the Telegraph missed the point.

“There has always been and always will be an unknown number of crimes that are not reported to the police. This is what criminologists call ‘The dark figure of unreported crime’ because we can never know for sure how many crimes are not reported. It stands to reason that people will not report each and every crime maybe because the crime is very minor, or because they don’t think whoever did it is likely to be identified or because it’s just too much trouble.

“The British Crime Survey which is based on a public survey carried out in a consistent way over many years also shows that crime is falling, so we can be confident that the trend shown by our crime figures is valid and true.

“January’s figures come on top of excellent figures for October, November and December which made 2009 a very good year for us. February has got off to a good start as well.

“I would hope that we would all want to see a safe and prosperous area with low crime levels and so I am disappointed that some people choose to assume that good results for North East Lincolnshire can’t be true. We’ve got something to celebrate here.

“The story behind the figures is that we have relentlessly been targeting the top offenders and some of the prison sentences we have seen in the last year have been very pleasing. At the other end of the scale we have been working very closely with the Youth Offending Service and many other partners to keep kids out of trouble.

“Reports of anti-social behaviour are also down massively. I know that anti-social behaviour is an important priority for many people and we are working harder than ever to tackle it. In November we passed a milestone of 100 ASBOs being granted at court and behind that there are many more cases that are successfully being dealt with without the formality of an ASBO.

North East Lincolnshire is becoming an increasingly safe area for us all to live and work because of the efforts of many people and many organisations. All of these people and organisations should have a share of the credit. Let’s not talk down our area but celebrate our successes instead.”

The table below shows the improvements made last year.