Castle Point crime jumps by 20% in one year

The statistics released the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, show a total of 6,385 crimes in the year from August 2018 compared to 5,321 recorded the year before.

The figures are detailed in a briefing for the commissioner by Roger Hirst’s public meeting at The Paddocks on Canvey this evening.

The briefing also shows that robberies, violent crime and sex crimes have increased in the district.

Violent crimes without injury increased by 32.7 per cent, with 223 more offences of harassment, stalking, threats and malicious communications.

Robberies increased by 25 per cent with 15 more offences, and sexual offences rose by an alarming 49.6 per cent with 62 more offences.

Regarding sex offences, the commissioner’s report said there was “no direct pattern” to the crimes but the police have seen an increase in incidents reported by schools and safeguarding officers between teenagers, as a result of increased use of Snapchat and Instagram.

The report also said the community policing team for Castle Point and Rochford has conducted more patrols on Canvey in response to a number of knife crimes and antisocial behaviour.

It said: “In August, an authority under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act was implemented over a 48 hour period on Canvey. This resulted in force wide support from our Operational Support Group (OSG), 132 extra stop and searches, 11 arrests for weapons and drug related crimes.”

The district is also set to see a further three police officers by the end of 2020, following on from eight officers being added in the past year.

Essex Police’s rollout of the town centre teams means Castle Point will get another six police constables and one sergeant, with two dedicated to Canvey.

As of October 1, Castle Point has 64 constables, ten sergeants and two inspectors working across five different shift patterns.

Roger Hirst will hold the public meeting at the Paddocks tonight from 6.30pm to 8pm. All are welcome to attend.