Amid reports that Asian women are often targeted for their gold jewellery, the community can feel safe as a recent Police survey shows that the number of crime victims across the borough has decreased despite cuts being made to the police force.
Last year saw more than 20,000 fewer victims of crime across the West Midlands, compared to the previous 12 months.
Crime levels overall are now lower than at any time since 2002, when comparable crime recording began.
As well as a dramatic fall in total recorded crime, reductions have also been achieved in most serious violence, burglary, vehicle crime and business crime.
Across the force there were over 4,000 fewer victims of vehicle crime and more than 3,100 fewer victims of house burglary.
The number of victims of most serious violence decreased by 235 and over 3,300 fewer businesses were affected by crime.
The force’s crackdown on robbery, driven by Operation Serve and Protect, resulted in over 1,600 fewer victims compared to this time last year. September’s robbery figures were the lowest for a decade.
At the same time, confidence in West Midlands Police remains high, with 84 per cent saying they have confidence in the police and 87 per cent saying they believe the police are doing a good job.
All this has been achieved against the backdrop of a period of unprecedented change for the force as it works to save £126m over four years.
“Since March last year over 1,700 staff have left the organisation but we have continued to respond to calls effectively and crime levels are back to those not seen in a decade,” said Deputy Chief Constable Dave Thompson.
“At the same time levels of satisfaction with feedback and action taken are showing some of the highest figures ever recorded since our in-depth surveys were launched.
“All of this has been achieved at a time when we have made significant savings. Many of our functions have been reviewed which has led to some reductions in workforce and involved changes to the frequency of what we do, how we do it or whether we do it at all without impacting on service.
“At the same time our work around Continuous Improvement, which is aimed at identifying and reducing waste, duplication and inefficiency, has highlighted some excellent results and is currently being rolled out across the force.
“At the same time, last August brought to the streets of the West Midlands some of the worst disorder the region has seen and the immense policing challenges the force had to face.
“The last year has been extremely positive in terms of our performance and I am proud that we are making a difference where it really matters to our communities.
“Performance from September to January was particularly impressive, with some of the lowest recorded levels of robbery for a decade. These big reductions in crime across the board are good news and we are determined to sustain them as we move forward.
“We are totally committed to improving performance over the coming year and, with the public’s continuing help and support, I am confident we can build on these encouraging positive results even further.”
