REPORTED crime in Inverclyde rose by nearly 20 per cent according to the latest annual figures, fuelled by a 50 per cent rise in shoplifting.
There were a of 6,920 crimes and offences recorded in the 12 months up to 31 March, up by 19 per cent, compared with a national rise of around eight per cent.
Crimes of dishonesty rose by 30 per cent to 1,863, outpacing the national trend.
Police Scotland state: “This surge is primarily driven by a 50.5 per cent rise in shoplifting, which now accounts for 60 per cent of all acquisitive crime.
“While housebreaking hit a four-year low, other areas like fraud and motor vehicle theft increased. Retail crime figures are strongly influenced by criminality linked to a relatively small number of prolific repeat offenders, prompting targeted interventions via the Retail Crime Taskforce.
“Concurrently, cyber-enabled crimes rose by 18 per cent, fuelled by sophisticated online fraud and indecent digital communications.”
There were 795 crimes of violence (a decrease of just under per cent). Police say a proactive response and partnership working has contributed to a reduction of 27 per cent in crimes of violence involving accused aged under 18, falling from 88 to 64. Violence linked to domestic abuse also dropped by nearly 21 per cent, with 178 crimes recorded.
Nearly half of the crimes of violence occurred within private dwellings and 30 per cent in open public spaces. Violent crimes within public utility locations, such as local authority buildings, hospitals and courts, more than doubled, from 31 to 70.
Disorder calls fell slightly to 2,038 and damage and reckless behaviour offences fell by 13 per cent to 415.
There were 98 hate crimes recorded in Inverclyde, down 14 per cent. Forty of them were racially aggravated and 32 related to sexual orientation.
There were 197 offensive/bladed weapons offences, up 23 per cent, of which 108 related to the use of weapons in other criminal activity, including threatening or abusive behaviour, vandalism and other crimes not involving physical violence.
Sexual crimes increased by 34 per cent to 157. Police say this is attributable to several factors, including a rise in cyber-enabled sexual offences, an increase in crimes involving under 18s (both in terms of victim and accused) and a rise in sexual offending linked to domestic abuse.
There were 828 domestic abuse incidents recorded, 370 of which resulted in a crime being recorded (just under 45% of the total). 542 domestic crimes were recorded, with
the most common crimes being common assault (170 crimes), threatening or abusive behaviour (97) and
bail offences (62).
The overall detection rate for crimes and offences in Inverclyde is 71.2 per cent, an increase on the previous year’s position of 70.1 per cent and above the national rate for the same reporting period 66.7 per cent.
