Police- More Analysis On Crime In Wednesfield

Wednesfield North harbours two local neighbourhood police beats. These are Wednesfield Beat 17 which covers the Broad Lane North Wyvern Park, Springhill/Linthouse Estate,Wood End part of Wednesfield North and sits in one of the largest beats in the City.

The other police beat, is Beat 18 covering Ashmore Park & Coppice Farm and there is comment about that beat elsewhere on my site.


On 13th February I posted an article on the crime statistics affecting Wednesfield Beat 17. At that time there was a -7% fall in crime across the neighbourhoods that the beat covers.
It also mirrored the overall -7% statistical fall for the West Midlands force overall. The statistics covered the period to December 2007.

It certainly looked a lot better than the neighbouring Ashmore Park/Coppice Farm statistics ( Beat 18) which showed at that time a sharp increase in crime.

Wednesfield Beat 17 is a positively huge area in size covering a 25,401 population , and that translates to 10,584 households.

In the 12 month to December 2007 crimes numbered 2133 with the top number of crimes committed being criminal damage where a recorded 371 incidents were reported.

But the latest statistics that are now available cover from March 07 until February 08. They record that there have been 2237 crimes committed in the neighbourhoods covered by this police beat.

The previous 12 months statistics recorded 2244 crimes- A marginal increase of just 7 crimes in a year. So it is safe to assume that the police have got a handle on the crime within the beat, and have been able with the help of the community to keep the neighbourhoods stable.

If you take these statistics and equate them to the number of crimes being committed per day in the neighbourhoods covered it works out around 6 crimes a day taking place across the 25,401 population residing within this police beat.

Here are the official figures;-

All Crimes 2237
Burglary Dwelling 124
Criminal damage 401
Wounding 275
Robbery 51
Theft of Motor Vehicle 100
Theft from Motor Vehicle 210
Theft from Person 15
Theft of Pedal Cycle 46
Other Motor Vehicle Crime 21
Common Assault 18
Other Crimes 976

Certainly there are some eye catching results in these statistics especially when you compare them to the crimes being committed on Ashmore Park & Coppice Farm for instance.

Criminal damage in February 08 for the year is recorded on Beat 17 as being 401 cases that is in fact an +8.09% increase over the numbers from the previous year. Criminal damage therefore is not abating in this part of Wednesfield. In fact it is growing at double the rate of criminal damage experienced in Ashmore Park & Coppice Farm. Now this is often crime that is seen to be low level. It ought to be easier to deal with. In Ashmore Park & Coppice Farm I have called for a conference after the elections involving all the community to see if together we can provide extra resources for the police to combat this type of crime.

Analysis of these results leave me considering if a similar event would be beneficial to this neighbourhood/community?

I am certainly open to receiving comments from my constituents and others. We all must strive to ensure that we play our part in reducing crime and making our environment safer for all.During the period I have been Councillor for Wednesfield North I have always tried very hard to support the police, be critical where it is required. But I have always been responsible. In the last few weeks I have been meeting wit Police Chiefs talking about how we can improve results and how we can improve the neighbourhoods of this community. It is this type of approach that is successful in the end.