ESSEX Police’s ongoing work to catch violent offenders and safeguard the public has seen a 12% drop in the number of personal robberies in 2024 across Essex claims Essex Police.
That’s according to the most recently released crime statistics for the 12 months to November 2024.
In the Castle Point district alone, incidents of robbery of personal property have been cut by half year-on-year.
In the Chelmsford and Southend districts, we’ve seen a reduction of around 30%.
Robbery is a hugely violating crime and officers from our community and local policing teams, together with our CID detectives, are committed to stamping it out.
Just this month, detectives saw positive results in their investigation into the robbery of a 12-year-old boy in Southend.
It was reported the teenaged boy was approached by a man in Swanage Road at around 4.20pm on 25 November.
The man grabbed him and demanded his phone. The boy refused and was assaulted.
Officer arrested a 27-year-old man form Dagenham on suspicion of attempted robbery on Friday 29 November.
He’s since been charged, remanded in custody and is next due to appear before a crown court judge in January.
Last month, we told the story of Braintree CID’s work to secure an eight-year prison sentence for a man who robbed five shops across Essex and Suffolk.
Superintendent Tim Tubbs, our force lead for robbery, said: “You are very unlikely to fall victim to a robbery in Essex, but we’ve always been really clear that one robbery is one too many.
“This is hugely harmful offending which can have a significant impact on victims and all of our officers understand that.
“Attending, investigating and supporting the victims of all reported robberies is a priority.
“We’re seeing the numbers trending in the right direction precisely because we’ve been so proactive in pursuing offenders – often many of the offences we see can be attributed to a small number of suspects.
“By targeting our resources where they are needed and building cases against the most serious offenders, we are having a clear impact.”
This work is set against the backdrop of a continuing fall in overall crime in Essex, with 9,500 fewer offences in the last year.
Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington has been making the case to Government for fair funding to continue our efforts.
He said: “We can only keep this work going if we have fair funding from the Government.
“We all want the same thing – more officers and less crime, and Essex Police is doing its bit.
“Thanks to the support of the Police, Fire, and Crime Commissioner, and the public, we’re stronger than ever before and crime has been consistently falling for a couple of years.
“But despite being the eighth biggest force in the country, only Wiltshire gets proportionately 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 more than £40 million over the last five years. And we’ve earmarked £3.5 million of savings for next year too.”
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