Future Crime Predictions Given By Police To Arun Councillors

Friday, 4 September 2020 15:02

By Karen Dunn, Local Democracy Reporter

Fall-out from Brexit and the pandemic-induced recession could see an increase in civil disorder, racial tension and crimes such as burglary.

The worrying prediction was made by Chief Inspector Jon Carter, of Sussex Police, when he presented a report to a meeting of Arun District Council’s overview select committee.

Responding to questions from Conservative leader Shaun Gunner, CI Carter, who is District Commander for Arun and Chichester, said:

“Those are probably the three areas, if I had to guess, where we will see increases in crime moving forward.”

He told the meeting that ‘criminality and some kind of increased level of civil disobedience’ had been commonly linked with recessions in the past, adding:

“People become dissatisfied with the situation then take action around that dissatisfaction.”

He assured members that, working with the council, police were using community intelligence to keep abreast of the situation, gathering information about crime trends and targeting them.

But local knowledge is by no means the only tool available to Sussex Police.

The Chief Inspector told the meeting that he had regular briefings with colleagues up and down the country to keep up-to-date with any trends or factors which could influence crime in Arun.

Organised crime coming to the area from Europe was also on his radar, with expensive goods – such as GPS systems from tractors – being stolen to order and taken ‘out of the country in the blink of an eye’.

When it came to the issue of racial tension, CI Carter couldn’t predict how the diverse make-up of the area might change ‘because of the impact of Brexit’.

He said officers were working with schools and stepping up their efforts to form closer links with minority populations ‘to give them the confidence to tell us when things are happening’.

Looking at overall crime in the area, he told the meeting that the number of incidents in Arun had fallen over the past year, from 8,609 in 2019 to 7,114 this year – unsurprising given the recent lock down.

He said police had a ‘massive commitment towards crime prevention‘ and the force was recruiting ‘quite heavily’.

That recruitment has seen 14 officers assigned to the Arun/Chichester area – 10 in the response team, three in the neighbourhood policing team and one youth engagement officer.