Crime drops by 6 per cent

Crime rates in the borough have fallen by more than six per cent this year compared with last year according to stats revealed this week.

This equates nearly 600 fewer crimes across Windsor and Maidenhead between April 1, 2007 and 31 March, 2008 in comparison with 2006/7.

The figures relate to crimes such as burglary, criminal damage, robbery, car crime, wounding and common assault.

Thefts from vehicles, which has been a top priority for police in the past year, has seen the most dramatic change with a drop of 15.5 per cent.
Acting Supt Jim Templer, commander of Windsor and Maidenhead local police are said: "“For me this is really good news. This is block crime that people have to put up with day in and day out.
“It’s linked to antisocial behaviour and this is an indicator that we are beginning to manage that.”

Interference with vehicles is down 13 per cent, woundings (non-domestic) has dropped by 7.8 per cent and criminal damage is down 5.2 per cent along with a 4.9 per cent drop in theft of motor vehicles.

Here is a breakdown of some of the Maidenhead stats:
Theft from vehicle - down 14. 8 per cent
Theft from a person - down 13.9 per cent
Wounding - down 7.7 per cent
Burglary - down 5 per cent.

Supt Templer also said antisocial behaviour has gone down in Pinkneys Green and Furze Platt where neighbourhood policing was rolled out last year. Riverside and Belmont has seen an increase- but it was only rolled out there recently.
 
Speaking about the general crime figures, he added: “There’s some good news here but there’s still an awful lot for us to do, not just the police but the whole community."
He said: “Crime across the Thames Valley is down 10 per cent so we are not quite up with the rest of the force.”