Violent crime on the increase in villages
Violent crime and anti-social behaviour has risen in two South Staffordshire villages, new figures have revealed.
The details emerged in a report from Staffordshire Police that has been sent out to the district's parish councils and shows that crime in Lower Penn and Wombourne is on the increase.
The numbers collated by the force class both villages in the same sector with more than 200 crimes recorded in the two parishes between April 2012 and March this year.
During those 12 months there were 162 incidents of violent crime compared to 154 in the previous year. There were 18 cases of criminal damages for two consecutive years.
Between 2012/13 there were 53 cases of anti-social behaviour compared to 41 the previous year.
Among the crimes recorded include vandal attacks on flower beds that had been created by children in Wombourne as part of a community project.
Wombourne's Co-Op store in High Street was also targeted by masked robbers in August as part of a string of raids across the region which prompted store bosses to up security at the shop.
Inspector Donna Gibbs who is the local policing commander for South Staffordshire said: "We are lucky that across the South Staffordshire area there is a low crime rate and anti-social behaviour is down 13.2 per cent.
"The rise in numbers in Lower Penn and Wombourne is due to us encouraging residents to report more anti-social behaviour in the area. In Wombourne there has been an issue and the youths and the community have been pro-active by engaging with us. These numbers are a positive and they reflect our robust response to these issues."
