Bradford & District | Archive | 2004 | October | 28
From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Thursday 28th Oct 2004.
Crime figures in Bradford are tumbling and detection rates are climbing as police pursue the city's most prolific criminals.
Police statistics released today show recorded crime fell by 21 per cent in the six months to September, while the number of solved crimes leapt by more than 20 per cent.
Police chiefs say their success is down to targeting the most prolific offenders, new advances in technology and putting more bobbies on Bradford's streets.
The crime figures are to be discussed at tomorrow's West Yorkshire Police Authority performance review committee. They show that total recorded crime in the Bradford district for the six months from April to September this year fell to slightly more than 30,000 offences, with the numbers reducing each month.
Crimes regarded by the force as priorities showed massive reductions. Robberies were down by almost 50 per cent to 234, house burglaries down by 43.5 per cent at fewer than 2,000, and theft from vehicles cut by just under 40 per cent to 2,513.
The theft of vehicles fell by more than 24 per cent, other thefts and handling stolen goods was down by 22.6 per cent and violent crime was cut by 8.3 per cent.
In West Yorkshire as a whole crime fell by 23.4 per cent to 133,535.
Detection rates have also soared in the district, going up from 14.7 per cent from April to September last year to 22.1 per cent for the same period last year. In September the figure rose to 24 per cent.
The figure, classed as "recorded notifiable offences brought to justice" - where convictions are secured - increased from 13.4 per cent to 20.4 per cent.
Chief Inspector Keith Gilert, head of community safety for the Bradford district, said: "We have achieved it on the back of an awful lot of work, focusing on priority crimes, like robbery, burglary and auto crime, and taking away the opportunity for people to commit them.
"An awful lot is on the back of new technology and making it work much faster. The forensic science service only recently had the capacity to turn stuff around quickly. Advances in DNA technology and things like footprint databases and facial recognition systems have played a big part."
Chief Insp Gilert said police had also worked hard at targeting known persistent offenders and taking them out of the equation.
"A small percentage of people commit a high percentage of crime so by focusing on those who cause people the most pain we can reduce crime and take away the fear of crime and instead put the fear in the criminal.
"We have looked at how active people are as criminals and targeted those persistent offenders.
"Undoubtedly, additional resources have had a significant impact. Extra police officers, as well as Community Support Officers in the city centre and town centres like Shipley and Keighley has given an increased visibility reassurance."
Chief Insp Gilert vowed police would be "relentless" in what they did to keep improving the situation.
"We are constantly monitoring our performance to make what we do faster, better and more efficient."
Councillor Clive Richardson, vice-chairman and a Bradford member of the police authority, said more police officers had been a major factor in the improving crime figures.
"The figures are very welcome news," he said. "They are due to a concerted effort on priority crimes and we have achieved them through additional officers."
West Yorkshire Police recruited more than 260 PCs last year and the authority allocated money for 180 constables and 70 sergeants this year.
The force now has record numbers, though it still has fewer officers for every 100,000 people than any other similar Metropolitan force.
Coun Richardson said: "By increasing our number of officers we have more manpower to respond to incidents and target known criminals.
"These are massive improvements but the crime was at a very high level and there is some way to go yet. We will never get to a point where there is no crime but we are working smarter all the time to get the evidence to secure better convictions."
© Newsquest Media Group 2008