Home Office figures show crime reduction in Wirral (From Wirral Globe)

Home Office figures show crime reduction in Wirral

10:53am Friday 20th November 2009

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New figures show that crime is falling more rapidly in Wirral than in other parts of the region.

At the end of the second quarter of this year, Home Office statistics showed Wirral has the lowest rate of recorded crime of any of the Merseyside authorities.

They also show the borough has the seventh-lowest rate of crime in the North West region, which stretches from Cumbria, across Greater Manchester and down to Cheshire. Coinciding with the crime drop are "Local Alcohol Profiles" for England, which show the borough performed significantly better than the England average when measuring levels of drink-related crime.

The figures been welcomed by Wirral Council, where a spokesman said tackling problems of alcohol-related crime is a "top priority" for the authority and its partners.

In what is said to be a unique partnership, customer service advisors at the council's One Stop Shops have received specialist training that allows them to identify, screen and refer clients directly to the NHS Alcohol Harm Reduction Team where necessary.

The spokesman said: "This service is undoubtedly playing a part in reducing the risks around alcohol across the borough."

Steve McGilvray, manager of the joint community safety team, said: “We have achieved what we have by working on the priorities that Wirral residents set for us and by being intelligence-led, putting resources into areas where we know the crime levels are at the highest.

“Our work is about preventing people from becoming a victim of crime by targeting criminals, putting in place alley gates and CCTV which protect the community and deter offenders and providing support to victims to prevent them from becoming a victim for a second time."

*Home Office figures covering the period April to June 2009 show Wirral recorded 27.83 crimes per 1,000 population. In comparison, the figure for St Helens was 35.55, Sefton 34.09, Liverpool 57.27 and Knowsley 38.94.

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