North Wales - A hundred crimes reported to police in North Wales each day

Published date: 14 December 2015 | 

Published by: Staff reporter
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AN average of 100 crimes, 26 of them involving violence, are reported in North Wales each day and 38 people are arrested, one of them for a sexual offence.

Those are among the statistics revealed as part of a review aimed at improving efficiency within the police force at a time when the number of officers is being cut.

A team is currently examining ways of reducing some of the demands and making systems more effective, and the findings will be presented to the chief officers by April.

Among the headings under consideration are the usage of e-mails, demand from other agencies including the ambulance services, social services and mental health teams, risk assessments for the release of prisoners, sudden deaths and daily briefings.

Writing in the latest edition of Your Voice, the North Wales Police Federation magazine, Andy Broadhead, secretary of the Inspector Branch Board and a Federation representative on the review team, says: “I believe the national appetite for fundamental change in relation to how the police service operates has never been greater.

“It is essential this appetite is present at all levels of our organisation to ensure that when things don’t go as expected or something unfortunate happens the decision-makers are supported. Otherwise we will remain risk-averse and continue to create and accept unnecessary demand.”

The article reveals that on a typical day in North Wales there is one officer on duty for every 1,596 people in the area, 200 emergency 999 calls are received, 521 incidents are recorded, 26 domestic incidents are recorded, seven missing person reports are received, four traffic collisions involving injury occur, 60 incidents of anti-social behaviour are recorded.

The growing pressures on officers are also referred to by Federation secretary Richard Eccles who says that there are unprecedented demands to respond to issues such as mental health issues and child sexual exploitation.

Mr Eccles says he is reassured that senior officers are challenging the other agencies, who are themselves facing budget cuts, about the transfer of responsibility to the police.

“We cannot continue to accept the work and risk from others; we need to focus upon our own priorities,” he writes.

A similar warning is given by Kim Owen, new chair of the Sergeants’ Branch Board, who says the Force will have to start saying “no” and that officers may not be able to attend certain incidents.

“Police officers have traditionally been much more than crime-fighters but we are over-stretched and under-resourced. Something has to give,” she says.

see-http://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/156087/a-hundred-crimes-reported-to-police-in-north-wales-each-day.aspx