THE SHADOW spokesman on public protection has pledged to take action over the shocking state of detection rates for a number of crimes in Thurrock.
A YT report last week revealed 89% of burglaries went unsolved in 2011, along with 88% of sexual offences, 79% of robberies and 72% of vandalisms. This despite, 2835 less crimes (in seven categories alone) on their books since 2006.
Now cllr Simon Wootton (who has decades of experience as a high-ranking special constable) has detailed a course of action.
Cllr Wootton said: “A detection rate of only 10% is very poor.
“Whilst most other Forces in England and Wales have a performance indicator of between 10% and 20%, in comparison, Essex Police is at the lower end in the league table.
Clearly, whilst there may be some mitigating factors which need to be explained, this level of performance does not provide the appropriate level of reassurance to the residents of Essex which they rightly deserve, and is even more disappointing to a victim of burglary knowing that the perpetrator/s of a crime, which in itself can be extremely distressing, are very unlikely to be caught.
“All this does need to be put in context with a falling trend in reported crime over the past two years, and the fact that Essex continues to be one of the safest counties in which to live or work and we must acknowledge the good work carried out by Essex Police and other agencies to prevent crime.
“I have asked for an urgent meeting with the Thurrock Essex Police District Commander, so that he can reassure me about what actions he will take to improve burglary detection rates in this area.
I have also asked for a meeting with the newly elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex, Nick Alston, so that from a strategic perspective, focus can be given to improve performance.
Chair of the safer Thurrock committee, cllr Steve Liddiard (Lab) has said he will look into bringing the issue to the attention of his committee.
The portfolio holder for public protection, cllr Angie Gaywood has not sent a response at the time of publication.
