Reduction in drug and weapons offences in Humberside

Drugs and weapons offences have decreased in Humberside, according to the latest recorded crime figures.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) this week revealed the national crime figures covering the 12 months up to June 2022, and they showed Humberside Police is once again bucking national trends.

Whilst the national picture shows that possession of offensive weapon crimes rose by 13.2%, conversely our force registered a 17.4% decrease. Drug offences have also decreased by more than double the national average.

Chief Constable Lee Freeman said: “These figures reflect the growth of 800 additional officers that I have added to the ranks of the force since taking over in 2017 and our focus on getting back to doing the basics well – reducing crime, arresting offenders and bringing them before the courts. As the most improved force in the country, 2021/2022 also saw Humberside Police not only arresting more suspects per 1000 population than any other force in the country, the force also had the highest detection rate for all crimes out of all 43 forces in England and Wales.

“I am pleased to see big decreases in drug and weapon offences as these crimes can have a huge impact on our communities. We have remained proactive in our approach to tackling these offences, with operations such as Galaxy and Hawk targeting criminal activity associated with drugs and their related crimes.”

Stalking and harassment offences have also decreased 4%, whilst an increase in recorded sexual offences is also well below the national average. This is the fifth consecutive year that Humberside Police has improved its performance against the national average.

“We have a clear focus on protecting the most vulnerable in our communities and have invested heavily in our Protecting Vulnerable People teams to ensure that victims of sexual offences receive both the best possible service and quality of investigation upon reporting these crimes to Humberside Police.

“Whilst we have seen some excellent results in this area in terms of the ONS data as well as at court, I would also like to encourage people to report if they have been a victim of sexual offences.

“There has also been an increase in reports of theft offences, which is a national trend across all 43 forces.  We have recently taken part in a Retail Crime Week of Action and have committed to a Retail Crime Charter with businesses across our force area to tackle theft offences. We also continue to work with our communities on offences such as bicycle theft, and I would like to remind people of our established cycle tagging scheme which can be accessed through their local Neighbourhood Policing Team.”

Overall, recorded crime has seen a rise of 5.2% overall, against a national increase of 12.3%.

Summarising the report, Chief Constable Freeman said: “We are here to protect and get results for our communities and remain committed to disrupting criminals and bringing them to justice, but we are not complacent and know we have more work to do.”