Crime rate rise denied

POLICE today issued a firm denial that an 81 per cent jump in Neighbourhood Watch crime figures for Ipswich in the space of two weeks is a true reflection of crime in the town.

In the weekly crime map, published in The Evening Star on Tuesday, there were 103 crimes in the town between September 22 and September 27, an increase of 81 pc on the figure of 57 crimes between September 8 and September 14.

However Chief Inspector Alan Caton argues the figures are not representative of the real picture.

He says the way the data is recorded makes it unreliable and it does not include every single crime in the town, in fact the average weekly crime total for the borough of Ipswich runs at around the 300 mark.

“It [the crime map] doesn't correspond with the actual official figures,” Ch Insp Caton said.

“It may not have all the crimes listed and may contain crimes that are more than a week old because they have only just been reported to us.

“It is fairly accurate and gives people a flavour but is not reliable,” he added.

Official police figures for crime in Ipswich show there were 1,155 crimes in July compared to 1,204 in August and 1,235 in September.

This represents a slight increase of 6.92 pc in the space of two months.

However against monthly police crime targets for the last three months crime committed is actually down by 2.18pc.

Monthly police crime targets are calculated through a complex formula based on the previous year's figures for the same month and incorporate desired reductions in that total.

“It is always difficult comparing month by month figures,” Ch insp Caton said.

“Where the good news is for example is that against a target of 55 domestic burglaries for September we actually experienced 41 which is 25 pc below target.

“At the beginning of the year dwelling burglaries were a real problem for us.

“We have been giving people information about how they can protect their own property and have made significant inroads into that for the moment,” he added.