A POLICE chief says crime figures in Hyndburn are falling - despite doubts being raised over the way they are recorded.
At a recent meeting of the Lancashire Police Authority Inspector Terry Woods said the figures for the borough had improved since last year.
Among other things, Accrington's force has succeeded in:
- Cutting burglary and theft by 13.7 per cent.
- Reducing violent crime by seven and a half per cent.
Inspector Woods said: "Overall, crime has gone down by three per cent between July and September compared with the same period last year. As far as I am concerned that is 10 fewer victims of crime."
He was supported by Davina Helm of Hyndburn Community Safety Partnership who also cited figures to show that crime had fallen in Hyndburn compared with last year.
She said: "Over the last six months there has been a total of 2,588 crimes in Hyndburn. Compared with the same period last year it is down by 1.6 per cent.
"Crime is going down in Hyndburn but it is not going down quickly enough and there is still a lot of work to do. Most of the crimes we had were damage to cars or houses."
But a resident at the meeting expressed concern over the way crime figures are compiled.
Currently Accrington Pol-ice have two numbers they ask victims of crime to ring - one at Greenbank Police Station and one for the Community Beat Manager (CBM) office at Accrington.
Fears were raised that if people rang the latter number their complaint might not be logged with the others.
But after the meeting Inspector Woods explained that there had been some confusion over the difference between incident log numbers and official crime statistics.
He said that when people contact the police they are given a crime log number but these do not form part of the official statistics.
He added that the CBM office is not designed for people to ring up and get a police response.
Instead, it is there to make it easier for people to speak to a local officer about issues which concern them without having to go through Greenbank.
