Essex is one of the safest counties

MARCH 19th, 1998
MA98_03

Only four of the 37 English police areas covered in the report had a lower number of crimes per 1,000 population during the 12 months than Essex's 64.6. The national average for England and Wales was 85.1. And during the three years from 1993/4 to 1996/7, the number of crimes per 1,000 population fell by 12 per cent in Essex.

Broken down, the figures also show Essex to be well below the national averages for the incidence of violent crime and household burglary.

Essex recorded 3.9 violent crimes per 1,000 population against a national average of 5.8 offences.

There were 13.9 burglaries per 1,000 households in Essex, while the national average was 24.4.

This was achieved despite lower than average spending on police in Essex (£100.36 per head of population against a national average of £109.11). But only the Metropolitan Police had more stations open to the public than Essex's 117.

Essex Police solved 70 per cent of the violent offences it recorded, but the county's detection rate for all crime was slightly below the national average. Essex's detection rate of 27.0 per cent for all crime compared with a national average of 29.8 per cent.

Assistant Chief Constable (Designate) Charles Clark said: "The Audit Commission's confirmation that Essex is one of the nation's safest places is welcome news. A wide number of measures have contributed to this, ranging from targeting known criminals to the installation of closed circuit television cameras in town centres and community support initiatives.

"Essex Police is committed to maintaining the county's safe reputation and to detecting more offences."