“WE are reducing crime thanks to the professionalism and dedication of our officers” – that’s from our Chief Constable after there were nearly 9,500 fewer crimes in Essex last year.
Across Essex in 2023, there were 9,470 fewer crimes reported which represents a reduction of nearly six percent compared to 2022.
In the same time, incidents of anti-social behaviour have fallen by more than 37 percent equating to more than 9,000 fewer reports. In Southend, it has virtually halved.
There have been significant reductions in violent crime, sexual offences, and reports of domestic abuse offences.
Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington said: “The fall in crime we have seen in 2023 is testament to the work of my officers, staff and volunteers who are tireless in their efforts in preventing, responding, and investigating crime.
“We have invested to ensure we are stronger than ever before and have increased the number specialist teams and officers in areas such as domestic abuse, sexual offences, and rural crime to better investigate crimes and support victims as well as making sure our community policing teams and response cops are focused on tackling crime in our communities.
“Knife-enabled crime is down by 11 percent.
“We’re solving more burglary and robbery offences. The number of shoplifting offences solved has increased by nearly 40 percent.
“Since the turn of the year alone, we’ve seen a Braintree child abuser jailed for four-and-a-half years, an arsonist who destroyed property and put lives at risk sentenced to six years, and burglar who thought he could evade justice by fleeing oversees was put away for more than two years.
“And our latest independent survey shows 77 percent of people across the county think we’re doing a good or excellent job.
“However, I’m not complacent and neither is my force. There is still more work to do.”
Chief Constable Harrington added: “The support from the Essex public for our officers is consistent and we never take that for granted. It is only because of that support that we’re able to deliver results for them.
“I want people to report crimes to us. If you’ve witnessed an offence or have been a victim of one, I want to tell us about it.
“If something is or has happened in your area, we need to know about it. You may not see activity immediately but every piece of information sent to us helps us to build investigations and compile evidence that helps us take action and get convictions.
“You can have confidence in my officers because we ensure we only those who match our values are allowed in and in the very small proportion of instances where an officer falls below the standards we expect, we act robustly.
“Last year we stopped 71 people from becoming an officer or special constable because they didn’t match our values.
“We’re proactive in identify serving officers who fall below our expected standards and I personally dismiss them.”
Chief Constable Harrington continued that the force is working with partners to ensure if you need help, you’re getting it from the right people.
He said: “The demands made upon policing is high. We’ve made great strides locally with our partners in making sure the people who need help are getting it from the right people. Sometimes that is not always us that are the right people to attend, but where it is right for the police to respond, because it is the police that are needed we will be there.
“As a result of that work, our resources are being increasingly better used to both stop crime and solve crime. There is more to do on that, we know that and we’re continually pushing for improvement.
“To all our residents across the county, I pledge that we will continue 2024 as we finished 2023, by tackling those who are causing the highest harm in our communities, by continuing to drive down antisocial behaviour, by determinedly working to make our roads safer and by innovatively tackling tackle knife and the issues behind it.”
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