New police figures reveal rise in crime in Honiton this year

Crime in Honiton has risen by 22% this year, according to new figures from Devon and Cornwall Police

This week Devon and Cornwall Police released its crime statistics for 2019 and Nub News trawled through the data to bring you the figures for Honiton and the surrounding area.

The figures are divided into two areas, Honiton Town and Honiton Rural. Honiton Town saw a 22% rise in crime compared to last year and in Honiton Rural crime rose by 16%.

Here are the statistics for the Honiton area:

Honiton Town

-2018: 506

-Note: Criminal damage rose by 45%, last year 60 incidents of criminal damage were reported. This year the figure rose to 87.

Honiton Rural

-2018: 195

-Note: There were no recorded robberies this year but incidents involving 'violence with injury' rose from 16 in 2018 to 21 in 2019. A rise of 31%.

The figures, released this week, show there were 104,858 recorded crimes in the force area between October 1, 2018, and September 30, 2019.

For the previous 12 months, that figure was 104,812, showing the slight rise in crime, although not enough for make a difference in percentage terms.

Weapons possession offences rose 24.4 per cent, which follows a 17.9 per cent rise last year, while possession of drugs offences rose by 22.2 per cent and robberies were up 22 per cent.

But there was a reduction in recorded crimes of rape, homicide, burglary, vehicle offences, shoplifting, theft and 'other offences'.

The statistics show that in the previous 12 months, recorded crime rose in Plymouth, North, East and West Devon and Exeter, East and Mid Devon, but fell in South Devon and Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has said the figures underline the importance of remaining vigilant in the fight against organised crime.

The Office for National Statistics report for the 12 months to June this year, figures released on the same day as the stats on the Devon and Cornwall Police website that run from October to September, shows that Devon and Cornwall is the fifth safest of 43 force areas in England and Wales.

PCC Alison Hernandez said work to combat organised drug supply was reflected in the figures, adding: "Organised drug supply, including through so called 'county line' networks, remains one of the most significant risks we face in our communities.

"Drug dealers coming from metropolitan areas bring with them weapons and violence and exploit vulnerable people to help them distribute drugs.

"Devon and Cornwall Police is taking large scale action to combat this – we have invested over £5.5 million pounds in the last three years into new proactive policing teams and in dedicated operations to target specific county lines or organised crime groups.

"The ongoing increases we are seeing in the number of crimes recorded for drug offences and the possession of weapons are a reflection of that concerted effort, although I recognise there remains more to be done."

Robbery offences also rose, and Ms Hernandez added: "While these increases are on relatively low base numbers, and should be seen in the context of our area being for one of the safest parts of the country, I am concerned about the continued rise in robberies and I am in discussion with the Chief Constable to better understand the issues we face and the response being taken."

She added: "While I am pleased to see reductions in many areas of recorded crime we cannot and will not be complacent. Crime levels remain a concern to me and to our communities and we must continue to do all we can to improve our response to all types of crime.

"Recruitment of more officers is part of the solution so I am delighted that, in addition to a planned uplift in force strength, we will have an additional 141 officers added to the force through the first year of the national uplift.

"Despite our chocolate box image we are not immune from drug dealing and organised crime that has taken hold in the country at large."

The full figures, which reveal the number of crimes, broken down into crime groups, compared to the figures for last year, for each area, can be found by clicking the red button below.