Mapped – Suffolk’s crime hotspots
The different crime types and locations where Suffolk Constabulary were called to in December 2018. Picture: ARCHANT - Credit: Archant
Suffolk remains a safe place to live - this is the message from Suffolk police as details of 4,000 crimes reported in December 2018 are revealed.
Here we have plotted each of the crimes that were reported and, as most would predict, there are clusters of crimes in the major towns around Suffolk including Ipswich, Felixstowe, Haverhill, Stowmarket and Lowestoft.
There were more than 4,000 reports of crimes in Suffolk in the last month of 2018 ranging from claims of bike thefts to shoplifting, public order offences and robbery.
Suffolk police said they had more than 1,800 incidents of violence and sexual offences in December 2018 alone, along with 261 vehicles being targeted and more than 500 reports of anti-social behaviour.
Traditionally there is a spike in drink and drug driving in the run up to Christmas. Between 2002 and 2016, about 7% of breath tests (2,356) were failed or refused in Suffolk during December.
The crimes on our map are categorised as either:
•Anti-social behaviour
•Bicycle theft
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•Burglary or robbery
•Criminal damage and arson
•Possession of a weapon or drugs
•Public order
•Shoplifting
•Theft from the person
•Violence and sexual offences
Or
• Vehicle crime
A spokesman for Suffolk police said: “It is important to remember that crime statistics do not give the full picture of a local policing service and overall Suffolk remains a safe county to live and work.
“These figures also need to be set in context regarding certain categories of offences; for instance, incidents of violence can range from reports of an assault by pushing, to more serious assaults of grievous bodily harm. Similarly, reported incidents of sexual offences can range from indecent exposure to rape.”
The map, which uses statistics from data.police.uk, does not display ‘other thefts’ and ‘other crimes’.
In 2018 as a whole, Suffolk saw a 37% rise in robbery, 18% rise in weapons possession, a 13% rise in sex offences and a 12% rise in vehicle offences. However the numbers of crimes involving knives, drugs offences and public order offences decreased.
The Suffolk police spokesman added: “The restructure of our neighbourhood policing model last year allowed us to put more than 100 police officers into Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNTs) to ensure we have the right resources with the right skills and powers to impact on those issues that matter most to communities.
“We’re grateful for the support from the public which is demonstrated every time we appeal for help. Preventing and detecting crime also requires effective partnerships and in Suffolk we have strong support from a range of partners in the public, voluntary and private sectors.”
You can use the interactive tool to find out what types of crime have been happening in your area.
