CRIME in the Newton Abbot police section has dropped dramatically in the past three months, with a massive 57.4 per cent reduction in house burglaries. The figures for November, December and January, show a fall of 430 incidents compared with the corresponding period a year ago. A delighted police inspector Andy Dower told the Newton Abbot Town Council meeting on Wednesday that there were 3,519 incidents recorded. The police target had been a reduction of 9.4 per cent. It achieved 20.3 per cent. 'The target for violent crime reduction was 11.4 per cent and we achieved a 22 per cent reduction,' he said. Insp Dower revealed that the target for house burglaries was a fall of 4.1 per cent, but officers had achieved 57.4 per cent. 'We were expected to have 162 offences and we had 72. 'Looking at criminal damage and anti-social behaviour, we just slipped below our 9.9 per cent reduction target, returning 8.9 per cent,' he said. Insp Dower pointed to alcohol problems on Friday and Saturday evenings as the main cause. He added that more police were sent in, and when people were dispersed they seemed to decide to vent their anger on people's properties. 'We have a partnership which will be looking at that,' he said. Vehicle crime was also down with a 25.5 per cent drop against a 7.7 per cent target. Insp Dower told councillors he was sure CCTV had a positive effect, and he pointed out that Bovey Tracey had just come on line and Dawlish was about to do the same. There had been 300 CCTV-generated arrests – 150 more than last year – and monitoring was increasing. Referring to the new licensing hours, he said the situation was still being monitored. 'The testing time will be the summer months when more people will be on the streets later. 'It does not take long for something to go wrong and it would be prudent to tell you that this evening a sergeant, a constable and two women officers were assaulted in Teignmouth. 'I had to send officers over to help deal with it,' said Insp Dower.
