Violent Crime Falls in Forth Valley
Violent crime has fallen within Forth Valley.
Police Scotland has today issued its Q4 Management of Information data for the end of March 2020, to the beginning of April 2021, which shows that attempted murder has fallen from 18 reports, to 14, while there were also four fewer serious assaults and eight fewer robberies or assaults with intent to rob.
The reduction in violent crime is mirrored in the fall in overall weapons offences. There has been positive decreases in carrying and handling an offensive or bladed weapon, as well as these items being used in other criminal activity.
One further murder has been recorded, but all such offences have been detected.
The past 12 months have seen the country subject to COVID lockdown restrictions and during this time 801 fewer crimes have been reported in the division, compared to the previous year.
The overall crime detection rate for Forth Valley has also increased by almost one and a half percentage points.
Reports for sexual crime have remained consistent but the overall detection rate for thee offences has increased by 3.5 percentage points to 56.5%.
Nationally, there were a total of 1,966 child sexual abuse crimes recorded during the year, an increase of 5.9% compared to last year (1,857), but within the division, incidents of taking, possessing and distributing indecent images of children fell from 45 to 33 reports.
As Scotland continues to exit lockdown restrictions, housebreaking numbers within Forth Valley continue to fall, with over 500 fewer reports and both domestic and commercial housebreaking having reduced.
There has also been 24 fewer fraud incidents recorded, bucking the national trend of a continued rise in crimes of this nature.
Road safety remains a priority for the division and the total number of casualties has decreased significantly from 354, to 185. This includes two fewer fatal collisions, which have fallen from 12 to10.
Chief Superintendent Alan Gibson, Divisional Commander for Forth Valley said: “Tackling violence is one of our top priorities and our ongoing work has seen some positive reductions in violent crime,
“It is also very encouraging to see a fall in overall crime and an improvement in overall detection, but we must be pragmatic about what this information reflects and the current circumstances we find ourselves in.
“As DCC Taylor has said today, during the easing of COVID restrictions, we will continue to report on changes to the policing requirements of communities and the challenge of maintaining higher detection rates in the context of reported crime, which is closer to pre-pandemic levels.
“Nevertheless, we will continue to do all we can and work with partners, where appropriate, to reduce crime further and enhance our detection rates, keeping Forth Valley a safe place to live, work and visit.
“I want to thank the hardworking police officers and staff within our division for all of their efforts, which have seen positive reductions in violent crime, housebreaking and road casualties.”
The 2020-21 Q4 Performance Report will be presented to the Scottish Police Authority’s Policing Performance Committee on Tuesday, 8 June.
