Crime down 9pc according to police figures (From Hereford Times)

Crime in Herefordshire down 9pc according to police figures

8:30am Tuesday 9th October 2012 in Local News By Lydia Johnson

Crime in Herefordshire is down nine per cent since this time last year according to official figures from West Mercia Police.

Between April 1 and September 26, 2012, a total of 4,561 crimes have been reported to police – down 439 from the 5,000 recorded during the same period last year.

This includes the number of serious sexual offences, which have fallen by 28.2 per cent and robbery, which is down by 14.3 per cent.

However, police and crime commissioner independent candidate Bill Longmore says that more transparency is needed to ensure crime figures reflect reality.

He said: “Crime falling is good news for the public, but do the figures quoted reflect reality? Regular tinkering with the way crime is recorded by government is a well known ploy of politicians to manipulate crime figures.

“Evidence from the streets suggests certain crimes which are prevelant such as credit card and internet fraud are on many occasions not recorded and investigated.

“Unfortunately many people do not report low value crimes because they think the police are too busy or do not believe they have the time or even the inclination to investigate.

“More transparency is required before crime figures can be considered to reflect reality."