RURAL AREAS HIT AS CRIME SPILLS OVER FROM INNER CITIES 101531 SEP 10 By Gordon Darroch, PA News Better transport links and improved security in city centres are helping to feed a rising trend of crime in rural areas, research published today suggests. The value of countryside burglaries rose by L39 million in the first quarter of 2000, while car thefts were up by nearly a quarter in the last year, according to research by police, the Home Office and other agencies. The findings show that while country areas are still safer places to live than inner cities, there are signs that crime is spilling over into places previously considered crime-free. But the figures also show rural areas varying widely in their susceptibility to crime, with homes in the Surrey town of Guildford falling into five different brackets. Scotland's Orkney and Shetland Islands were shown to be the least likely places to be burgled, while rural Scotland also had the lowest incidence of violent crime. Burglary rates were also low in coastal areas of Wales and North Norfolk, an area which includes the remote farmhouse of Tony Martin, jailed earlier this year for shooting dead a teenager who broke into his home. The Digbeth area of Birmingham had the highest incidence of burglary as well as the third-highest rate of violent crime, after Bishopsgate in London and central Newcastle. In Suffolk, violent crime has risen 36% in the past year, while property crime in Bedfordshire is up 12% and total crime in Surrey has gone up by 4.4%. However, other areas have been less badly hit, with crime in Kent falling by 4% in the past year. The research, to which domestic insurers and the Countryside Agency also contributed, suggested that good road links and poor local surveillance were directly linked to an increase in rural crime. A spokesman for Norwich Union said: "We've noticed that as the roads from London to Norfolk improved, the rates of property crime rose. Criminals were willing to drive up to 90 minutes on a main road than 15 minutes on minor ones." Countryside insurers NFU Mutual said the growing tendency for country dwellers to work away from their locality made rural crime more likely, while CCTV cameras in towns had deterred criminals who saw small towns and villages as "easy pickings". A spokeswoman said: "Until relatively recently, the countryside was able to police itself. Most people worked within their villages and small towns. "Today even the farmer's wife may have to run a second business away from the farm and there are often no village shops, so there are fewer people walking about." Figures also show rural counties such as Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Lincolnshire have some of the lowest ratios of officers to population in the country, despite Home Office recommendations that three times as many Pcs are needed in the countryside as in the city because of the greater distances. Fred Broughton, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: "This centralisation has been financially driven and I understand why, but it has been disastrous for the way we police today. "Irrespective of whether Tony Martin was guilty or not, the problem is that communities such as his are unable to rely on the police." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Another classic combination of journalistic ignorance and a total incapability of reading a map. Burglary rate are low in North Norfolk but Emneth is in West Norfolk, nearly in Cambridgeshire. Due to the isolated nature of the farmhouses and the excellent communications to the Midlands it is rife with burglary. Kenneth Pantling Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny. (Edmund Burke�1729-97) -- Well, I have to say I think one of the reasons Digbeth is at the top is because there are so many empty buildings there. There used to be a lot of factories there but they are all empty and closed down now. I suspect in terms of the value of property stolen New Town or the other surrounding residential areas probably have higher rates. Steve. Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
