Friday 18 July 2008

Coventry Beats Targets For Crime Reduction

The latest Home Office British Crime Survey demonstrates a twenty five per cent reduction in overall crime for Coventry over the last three years. This means Coventry is the best performing of a group of fifteen similar sized cities across the U.K in meeting the government’s three year target to reduce crime by twenty per cent by March 2008.

Cllr Andrew Williams, Coventry City Council Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Community Safety says: "I'm delighted that Crime in Coventry is falling faster than similar cities and is falling faster than the prescribed target of twenty per cent. It shows the hard work that's being undertaking by the Coventry Community Safety Partnership. It's particularly good to note that our city centre is the 4th safest in the country - an excellent achievement for the UK's 8th largest city.

Of course this doesn't mean we can sit on our laurels. There's still much work to be done to ensure we continue with these trends and that our city is a safe and enjoyable place to work, visit and socialise in. There is also more to be done to make sure that people actually feel safer as perception of crime doesn't always reflect the reality. "

Over the last 3 years the Coventry Community Safety Partnership has been successful in reducing a range of crimes including:

. 28 per cent reduction in dwelling burglaries
. 43 per cent reduction in theft from a person
. 48 per cent reduction in vehicle crime
. 21 per cent reduction in criminal damage
. 7 per cent reduction in wounding
. 25 per cent reduction in accidental dwelling fires
. 63 per cent reduction in arsons to buildings
. 61 per cent reduction in arsons to vehicles