Latest crime figures show offences committed across Nottinghamshire rose by four per cent last year. The latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday (April 28) does, however, show that there were fewer knife-related offences as well as robberies and burglaries committed in 2021.
In total, excluding fraud, there were 94,292 total offences committed in Nottinghamshire between January and December 2021. This represented a four per cent increase from 2020, which is slightly above the average for the East Midlands of three per cent - and less than both Derbyshire and Leicestershire which saw an eight per cent increase over the same period.
Nationally, there was a six per cent rise - Nottinghamshire Police said the increase both locally and nationally may be linked to the lifting of Covid restrictions. One of the biggest jumps in crimes was for sexual offences which rose by 22 per cent - there were 3,322 offence committed last year in the county, which works out at around 2.8 per 100,000 people. There was also a 14 per cent rise in shoplifting offences in Nottinghamshire, the biggest jump seen across the entire East Midlands.
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However, 2021 did see an eight per cent drop in knife-related offences, according to the ONS data. There were 737 recorded offence - this equates to a rate of 63 per 100,000 people, dropping from 69 the previous year. Nottinghamshire has also seen a big drop in the number of burglaries being committed - falling 21 per cent this year - as well as robberies which were down by eight per cent.
Nottinghamshire Police said this has coincided with the introduction of four specialist teams of more than 30 detectives who work every day to tackle these offences in the city and county. Chief Constable Craig Guildford said: "Behind every one of these statistics is a person and a family who have been the victim of extremely upsetting crimes.
"We understand just how awful it is for victims who have their homes and their lives violated by burglars and muggers and are determined to do everything in our power to bring offenders to justice and prevent these crimes from happening in the first place. I am delighted that these numbers continue to fall and would like to thank all the officers who have been working so hard to drive these offences down."
The force said recent successes for their burglary team include the conviction of distraction burglar Liam Schneider, who targeted a string of elderly victims living in supported accommodation in the Basford area. Schneider, a career criminal with multiple previous convictions, asked to borrow money from multiple victims under the false promise of paying it back.
One of his victims, an 86-year-old woman, was pushed to the ground as he made a grab for her handbag. The 46-year-old was jailed in March this year for more than 10 years after officers linked to him to multiple offences burglary and fraud, and one of robbery.
Nottinghamshire also recorded the lowest number of homicides in the East Midlands region, with seven offences reported compared to 13 the year before.
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