THAT’S the message from our Chief Constable as figures show there have been 9,300 fewer offences reported in Essex in the last year claim Essex Police.
Crime has been falling consistently since before the pandemic, with 22,000 fewer offences reported than this time five years ago.
And at the same time as bringing crime down, in the last 12 months the force has attended 77,000 emergencies, made more than 30,000 arrests, and secured more than 13,000 charges.
Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington said: “Due to the consistent funding we’ve had in recent years thanks to the people of Essex and the Police, Fire, and Crime Commissioner, we’ve been able to grow our force and consistently reduce crime.
“Fewer people are victims of violent, sexual or domestic offences – we’ve had around 1,000 fewer repeat domestic abuse victims in the last year.
“Vehicle crime is coming down and we’re seeing more cases solved, and hundreds of vehicles worth millions of pounds recovered.
“Knife crime falling and fewer people being robbed. But we’re not complacent and every person who is hurt or killed is a tragedy.
“Since the start of the year, we’ve made around 1,500 shoplifting arrests and secured 2,500 charges.
“Home burglaries are also now falling, we’re attending more than 99 percent of them, and we’re solving more than almost any other force. In the last 12 months we’ve secured 130 burglary charges.
“And 77 percent of people in the county say they think we’re doing a good or excellent job.
“To have a prosperous society, you need to have a safe society – and we can only keep that work going if we have the right resources.”
Mr Harrington continued: “All I’m asking for is fair funding to keep fighting crime.
“Training a new officer across two years costs around £60,000. Their kit, and the IT to support it, is another £5,000.
“The cost to maintain all our buildings has risen by a third in the last couple of years and our energy bills alone have more than doubled. That’s millions of pounds a year more.
“Essex Police is the eighth biggest force in the country, but only Wiltshire gets proportionally less funding.
“Cumbria Police, for example, can spend about 40 percent more per person in their area on policing, than us.
“Merseyside Police is a similar sized force covering an area five times smaller than Essex, and if we had the same level of funding, we’d have £40 million extra each year to keep the public safe and put criminals behind bars.
“Yet, we put more officers in our communities, on our roads, and in our town and villages for every pound in funding we receive than any other force.
“And we’re doing our bit for the taxpayer – last year we made £10 million in savings and £40 million over the last five years.”
Mr Harrington added: “I need to ensure that we can retain the officers we’ve recruited, support them, keep them trained, and provide them with the kit they need.
“But it’s not just about officers. We need to continue employing specialist staff like IT – 90 percent of crime has a digital footprint – forensics, training and development, custody officers, call handlers. Their work is crucial.”
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