Crime rises in Mansfield - but still down on pre-Covid figures say police chiefs

Nottinghamshire Police recorded 10,627 offences in Mansfield in the 12 months to June, according to the Office for National Statistics, up 12 per cent compared with the previous year, when there were 9,517.

And, at 97.2 crimes per 1,000 people, that was higher than the rate across England and Wales, which stood at 91.3.

However, police say the figures are actually less than the pre-Covid period.

Superintendent Claire Rukas, Nottinghamshire Police head of neighbourhood policing, said: “The good news is Mansfield is now a safer place than it was before the pandemic.

“As life has returned to normal and restrictions have been eased, we have seen a significant increase in demand. However, it is important to place increased demand in its proper context.

“When compared with the last pre-Covid period, these latest numbers actually show a very encouraging picture here in Mansfield and elsewhere.

“Burglaries are down more than 30 per cent, robberies are down by 37 per cent and thefts are down by 18 per cent. Vehicle offences have also fallen by nearly half.

“These are the kinds of offences that have a huge impact on the lives of local people and are consequently the things we put a huge amount of work into reducing.

“Mansfield is already a great place to live and work and the local neighbourhood team are constantly working to address residents’ concerns.

“We currently have more of these officers than we have for a long time and have recently implemented a range of new initiatives to tackle the issues that really matter to residents and businesses.

“Persistent shop thieves and burglars continue to be targeted with restrictive court orders that give us the power to regulate their behaviour and lock them up quicker when they step out of line.

“Safer Streets funding has also been used to install a range of new automatic numberplate recognition cameras. So all in all the outlook in Mansfield is increasingly bleak for local criminals, who are more and morl likely to run into a police officer and end up before the courts.”

Of the crimes recorded in Mansfield over the last 12 months, 372 were sexual offences – an increase of 13 per cent from the year before.

Meanwhile, violent crime has risen in the area, from 3,674 to 4,084 over this period.

One of the main factors behind this increase was the rise in violence with injury, which rose by 21 per cent, from 1,000 incidents to 1,213.

Theft offences in Mansfield rose by 21 per cent, with 2,933 incidents recorded in the 12 months to June. At 26.8 crimes per 1,000 people, that was in line with the rate across England and Wales, which stood at 26.5.

Crimes recorded in Mansfield included:

372 sexual offences, a rise of 13 per cent; 4,084 violent offences, a rise of 11 per cent; 1,387 incidents of criminal damage and arson, up 12 per cent; 451 drug offences, down 16 per cent; 134 possession of weapons such as firearms or knives, down 9 per cent; 844 public order offences, up 6 per cent; 2,933 theft offences, a rise of 21 per cent; 1,262 stalking and harassment offences, down 1 per cent.