Police blame Rother crime increase on recording changes

Violent crime increased by 27.7 per cent and domestic abuse rose by 7.3 per cent in 2015 compared to the previous 12 months.

District police commander Chief Inspector Paul Phelps said more emphasis on encouraging victims to come forward and new ways of recording crimes resulted in the overall increase.

“Our Local Policing Programme is bringing about changes to our criminal justice model which will deliver a more efficient and effective process, both in terms of investigations and the management of cases,” he said.

“Hastings and Rother are now one seamless district and this will enable us to tackle issues of threat, risk and harm even more robustly.

“While there has, in fact, been a slight increase in crime in Rother over the past year, January to January – some 3.3 per cent – this can be explained by changes in the way these statistics are now recorded and because we have actively encouraged the reporting of domestic abuse.

“We tend to work in terms of a performance plan year – like the financial year, from April to March, rather than January to January – and in this respect I’m encouraged that burglary dwellings in Rother are currently down by six per cent and burglaries other than dwellings by 28 per cent.”

Violent crimes in Rother on the up

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1) Make our website your homepage

2) Like our Facebook page

3) Follow us on Twitter

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

Always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.