Police pleased with crime cut

POLICE in Oldham have slashed crime in the borough by 4 per cent compared with last year’s records.

In the last year (April, 2010-March, 2011) Oldham police have made 8,504 arrests, recovered £398,346 from illegal enterprises and reduced overall crime by four per cent – or 773 victims.

In the first quarter alone (April to June, 2011) there were 141 fewer crime victims, 19 fewer victims of burglary, 21 fewer vehicle crimes and 15 fewer serious violent incidents – as well as 1,261 less incidents of anti-social behaviour.

These figures continue the trend shown in the Home Office end-of-year crime statistics which were released nationally this week, which showed Greater Manchester Police figures – which are the lowest since the Millennium – to be amongst the best in the country, despite being the busiest force outside of London.

Officers say the reduction in overall crime has been due to neighbourhood policing teams responding to the issues that concern the public.

Chief superintendent Tim Forber said: “We managed to cut crime in so many areas last year, and I am delighted that these trends have continued into the first quarter of this year.

“This is testament not only to the skill and dedication of my officers, but also the contribution of the council and the public.

“In April a new proactive team was set up at Oldham to target the most prolific offenders, and in its first two months the team made 194 arrests and carried out 154 stop checks.”

Across Greater Manchester, 97,000 people were locked up between April, 2010 and March, 2011 – 1,400 more than the previous year.

GMP officers seized more than £2.5m in cash from criminals in the last year, and through Proceeds of Crime Act Legislation (POCA) offenders were ordered to pay back more than £3.1m.

GMP will receive a £1.4m slice of those amounts, which will be ploughed back into fighting crime.

Chief Constable Peter Fahy said: “These figures show that our approach to reducing crime is working. It is bad news for criminals but good news for our communities. Not only has crime fallen but the number of arrests have gone up.

“The perception among the public is that budget cuts would mean less frontline officers and more crime, but these figures show that is not the case.”