Increase in recorded crimes in Wrexham and Flintshire

Figures from the Office for National Statistics have highlighted the number of crimes that have taken place in Wrexham and Flintshire in the 12 months to December.

North Wales Police have assured that the increase in recorded crimes is simply down to a conscious effort from the force to record all crimes to enhance the policing response. 

Wrexham

The total number of offences in Wrexham increased by 12%, with police recording 14,313 crimes over the course of the year.

This puts the overall crime rate at 105.2 per 1,000 people, compared to a national average of 85.5.

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Crimes recorded in Wrexham included:

469 sexual offences, a rise of 2%

6,646 violent crime offences, a rise of 18%

2,708 theft offences, a rise of 3%

2,785 stalking and harrassment offences, up 36%

1,603 incidents of criminal damage and arson, down 3%

385 drug offences, down 18%

71 possession of weapons such as firearms or knives, down two

2,005 public order offences, up 42%

Flintshire

The total number of offences in Flintshire increased by 9%, with police recording 12,407 crimes over the course of the year.

This puts the overall crime rate at 79.1 per 1,000 people, compared to a national average of 85.5.

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Crimes recorded in Flintshire included:

468 sexual offences, a rise of 6%

5,852 violent offences, a rise of 9%

2,119 theft offences, down 8%

285 drug offences, down 5%

68 possession of weapons such as firearms or knives, up eight

1,828 public order offences, up 28%

1,440 criminal damage or arson offences, up 19%

Police response

North Wales Police said they are committed to preventing and reducing crime and that ensuring their crime recording data is accurate is key to achieving this aim.

As such the Force has undertaken detailed auditing of crime recording figures over the past 12 months.

This process has enabled NWP to improve accuracy in all areas of crime data reporting, which has enhanced and informed their policing response.

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Superintendent Nick Evans said: “Accurate crime recording promotes trust and confidence in our communities and allows us to plan our resourcing accordingly.

“Throughout this 12-month period there has also been a concerted focus on improving the victim’s journey through the organisation, to ensure that they are satisfied with the service they receive.

“Central to this is our audit plan to check crime recording accuracy, which focuses on the crimes that have the biggest impact on victims.

“Through improving the identification of these offences we have improved the service victims receive from our officers. However in doing so, there has been a notable uplift in the number of crime types being recorded and generally recording overall.

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“Crimes such as Stalking and Harassment reflect this improvement. Since 2019, Home Office directives state that all-ex-partner harassments be recorded as stalking, and this is something we monitor closely.

“As a result of this scrutiny, since July 2021 we have improved the recording of domestic abuse from an accuracy rate of 80% to 90%.

“Significant improvements have also been made in relation to ‘personal’ anti-social behaviour offences, after guidance from HMICFRS nationally (the independent inspectorate of the police service) that vulnerable victims were being overlooked.

“We began a programme of audit, feedback and training early last year and saw recording accuracy improve from around 60% to around 90%.

“It’s clear that not all forces have taken this approach or had such dramatic improvements, making it difficult to compare crime data force by force or make direct comparisons to our own data crime figures last year.”