Crime in Heswall has dropped substantially, with vehicle crime down almost 70%

Aug 26 2009 by Matt Hurst, Heswall News

CRIME in Heswall has dropped substantially, with theft involving vehicles down almost 70%.

Neighbourhood Inspector, Kate Cunningham, whose patch also covers Gayton, Pensby, Thingwall, Irby, Thornton Hough, Brimstage and Raby, put the success down to proactive patrolling, partnerships with youth organisations and the successful conviction of two separate individuals targeting satellite navigation systems.

Overall crime in the Heswall area is down 35%.

This translates to 190 recorded incidents between April 1 and July 31, compared to 291 over the same period of 2008.

Significantly, crime involving assault – or violent crime – is down 43%, with only 13 incidents over the Spring quarter, compared to 23 last year.

Inspector Kate Cunningham told the News: “We have a very good neighbourhood policing team who go out and do an awful lot of good work.

“We have activities on a Friday night at the sports college for young people and during the school holidays we try and put extra activities on.

“We have had a few additional PCSOs and do a lot of foot patrolling.

“We’re very proactive at targeting areas where we know kids tend to congregate.

“We also have a neighbourhood action group, made up of people from the community and ourselves.

“If we see an up and coming problem, we’ll try to deal with it before it happens.”

The impressive drop in vehicle crime is a result of the successful pursuit and conviction of two offenders from outside the area, who were operating nine months apart.

And Inspector Cunningham says violence has almost been eradicated from the streets of Heswall, with most assaults now centring on domestic disputes between family members, or even neighbours.

Heswall Cllr Peter Johnson hailed the success story, he said: “I think it’s excellent news.

“We’ve got a good inspector in Heswall, and she doesn’t just say ‘yes we’ll do something’, she actually does it.”

Inspector Cunningham added: “The results show what we’re doing is having success, but I wouldn’t like to say it won’t go up again because you never know what’s going to happen.

“We’re working to keep it down until we come to a point where we can’t get it down any further.”

Figures released for the Hoylake area also show improvement, with an 18% reduction in crime for July, compared to last year.