Violent crime figures down

The number of offences such as ABH and GBH has dropped by almost ten per cent compared to last year.

The total between April 1 and August bank holiday Monday was 383 reported incidents. They also include harassment, breach of an antisocial behaviour order and minor public order offences.

This is a reduction of 38 incidents against the 421 crimes during the same period a year ago.

The significant drop forms part of an overall pattern of falling recorded crime in the Bognor area. Between April 1 and the August bank holiday, the total number of incidents brought to the police's attention reached 2,069. This was 174 '“ or almost 8 per cent '“ down on the 2,243 from last year.

Inspector John Merrick, of Bognor police station, said he was delighted with the good news. 'The reduction in violent crime continued during the summer, even with a blip during Rox.

'I am really pleased and encouraged. It is the first time in years that this has happened.

'It was one of my main targets when I arrived and the aim of myself and my officers is for that trend to continue.'

Insp Merrick said the police's tactics of setting up neighbourhood teams to designate officers for specified areas was clearly working, as well as staging extra operations to tackle violent crime.

It was unclear if the poorer summer weather was a contributory factor to the decline.

Vehicle crime is another success story about Bognor, with incidents falling. Criminal damage incidents rose slightly in the past five months. They went up by 14 incidents to 547.

Burglaries were also up marginally on 2006 to 57, mainly because of a spate in Aldwick earlier this year. Insp Merrick said he expected the two years' figures to more closely match as the year continued.

The overall detection rate at about 34 per cent puts Bognor's police officers among the best in Sussex and is higher than for many years.

For criminal damage, the detection rate of the town's police station at 26 per cent was way above the 18 per cent target. Some of the effort which goes into tackling crime was revealed by police community support officer Claire Cranswick to Bognor town councillors at their recent meeting.

She spoke about the focus on misbehaviour hotspots such as Hotham Park, Longbrook, Marine Park Gardens and The Esplanade.

Much of the attention is on wiping out excessive drinking which can lead to a range of crimes.