Violent crime falls in Forth Valley, new figures reveal

Violent crime has fallen within Forth Valley, the latest data reveals.
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Police Scotland figures for March 2020 to April 2021 showed that the number of attempted murders fell from 18 to 14, while there were also four fewer serious assaults and eight fewer robberies or assaults with intent to rob.

The reduction in violent crime was mirrored in the fall in overall weapons offences.

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There was a positive decrease in carrying and handling an offensive or bladed weapon, as well as these items being used in other criminal activity.

Picture Michael GillenPicture Michael Gillen
Picture Michael Gillen

One further murder was recorded, but all such offences were detected.

During lockdown, 801 fewer crimes were reported, and the overall detection rate for Forth Valley went up by almost 1.5%.

Reports for sexual crime remained consistent, but the overall detection rate went up 3.5% to 56.5%.

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Nationally, there were a total of 1966 child sexual abuse crimes recorded – up 5.9% – but within the division, cases of taking, possessing and distributing indecent images of children fell from 45 to 33,

Housebreaking numbers within Forth Valley continue to fall, with over 500 fewer reports. Both domestic and commercial housebreaking went down.

There were 24 fewer fraud incidents - bucking the national trend of a continued rise in this nature.

In terms of road safety, the total number of casualties decreased significantly from 354, to 185.

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Chief Superintendent Alan Gibson, divisional commander for Forth Valley said: “Tackling violence is one of our top priorities and our ongoing work has seen some positive reductions in violent crime,

“It is also very encouraging to see a fall in overall crime and an improvement in overall detection, but we must be pragmatic about what this information reflects and the current circumstances we find ourselves in.

“During the easing of COVID restrictions, we will continue to report on changes to the policing requirements of communities and the challenge of maintaining higher detection rates in the context of reported crime, which is closer to pre-pandemic levels.

“Nevertheless, we will continue to do all we can to reduce crime further and enhance our detection rates, keeping Forth Valley a safe place to live, work and visit.”

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