Website shows fall in crime across the Vale (From Evesham Journal)

Website shows fall in crime across the Vale

8:00am Saturday 11th February 2012 in News By Sarah Taylor

FEWER crimes were committed in Evesham over the festive period than in either of the previous two months, according a relaunched crime mapping website.

Police.uk, which first went live in February 2011, has undergone a huge expansion and since February 1 users have been able to check crime levels in a range of new locations, including railway stations, shopping centres, supermarkets and parks.

Other public spaces have also been added to the Home Office site, including theatres, hospitals and nightclubs although particular businesses are not named.

According to the website, 708 crimes were committed in the final three months of 2011. In December, 213 crimes took place in Evesham, a drop from the 270 incidents in October and 225 in November.

Although anti-social behaviour is the most frequent offence committed, the map illustrates in December alone, 27 instances of violent crime were recorded. These – including common assault, grievous bodily harm and sexual offences – were not confined to one area of the town but many were close to the town centre.

Currently visitors to the site cannot access details of the crime but from May the website is expected to provide details of each offence, the response and whether anyone was convicted.

In Pershore, crime also dropped from 47 crimes in November 2011 to 44 in December. It is also down on the Christmas period in 2010 when there were 52 incidents.

Of the 44 incidents last December, 23 were antisocial behaviour but theft was also a problem for the town with six instances of burglary, three shoplifting offences and eight other thefts recorded.