Burglaries up 22% as crime figure rise

Burglaries in the West Midlands have risen dramatically, with some parts of the Black Country seeing dozens more break-ins, new figures revealed today.

Across the West Midlands, break-ins rose by an average of more than 22 per cent.

Dudley saw the number of burglaries last month rise to 132 from 89 last May. The figures show that crime across the borough has risen by 9.2 per cent. Wolverhampton, Walsall and

Sandwell saw no real change but across the force there were 1,513 burglaries last month and 1,241 the year before.

Robberies have risen by an average of four per cent over the last three months, compared to last year.

Car crime has risen by nearly eight per cent.

But violent crime has reduced dramatically, down more than 10 per cent from an average of 3,652 offences each month to 3,272.

Overall crime dipped by one per cent, from 18,901 crimes per month to 18,767.

In Staffordshire, there has been a fall of more than 13 per cent in burglaries, with the average falling from 804 to 700 monthly.

While Stafford's burglary rate remained stable, at around 56 every month, the south of the county has seen a drop of 6.6 per cent.

In Shropshire, burglaries in the north of the county, which includes Bridgnorth, Claverley and Albrighton, burglaries have fallen by around 19 per cent - from an average of 178 per month to 144.

And in the Kidderminster region, it fell from 229 to 186.

Today Ch Insp Lee Kendrick, in charge of local policing in Dudley, said last May's figures were exceptionally low.

"In the run up to that time, we had a focus on burglary and had a number of key arrests of prolific offenders who received custodial sentences around that time.

"It was effective offender management and putting people in prison.

"We're continuing to focus on our priorities which affect people we'll always look at areas where we have increases in crime and will put resources in to target issues that matter to our communities."