North East police forces win praise in new study

Mar 11 2010 by Tom Mullen, The Journal

“However, community meetings have a relatively low attendance and the force needs to look at different ways of engaging the public, and especially with minority communities.”

Mr Baker continued: “Durham has low levels of crime. Domestic burglary, robbery, violent crime and vehicle offences are markedly below average.

“There are areas for improvement. The constabulary still re-assigns neighbourhood police team (NPT) officers to other duties, allowing officers less time in their local communities.

“Durham Constabulary employs more police officers and police community support officers than peer forces, but receives less funding from council tax.”

The survey as a whole identified more general areas of concern for all UK police forces, particularly surrounding antisocial behaviour. Chief Inspector of Constabulary Denis O’Connor said: “An awful lot of police forces have real problems. There is a lot of it, a lot of it is under-reported and there is a problem with nailing the intelligence around it.

“It is like going back to the doctor’s surgery but you see a different doctor every time. The more times they suffer the less confidence people have.”

Chief Supt Dave Orford, head of corporate development for Durham Constabulary said: “We welcome the findings which confirm Durham remains overall a safe place to live, work and invest.”

A spokesman for Northumbria Police said of the high levels of sexual offences: “As a force we are always working to encourage victims to come forward and report attacks. This increased level of support and confidence in coming forward is reflected in the number of crimes being reported to us.”