Burnham-On-Sea Police say they are winning the war on crime after unveiling new figures that show there has been a 13 per cent drop in incidents in the town over the past year.
Inspector Dale Baker (pictured below) and Sergeant Roger Tolley unveiled the figures at this week’s annual town council meeting.
Insp Baker said: “I’m delighted this is the fifth year we can give you good figures about crime in Burnham.”
“Total crime has fallen from 2,587 incidents last year to 2,250 this time; a thirteen per cent decrease in the sector as a whole.”
He added that house burglaries in Burnham had fallen 29 per cent to 94, while other burglaries had sunk by 23 per cent to 182.
Thefts of motor vehicles have been cut by five per cent to 91, while thefts from motor vehicles dropped by 28 per cent to 169.
He cautioned, though, that, thefts of in-car satellite navigation systems had been on the rise recently and advised Burnham motorists who own them to be on their guard and lock them away out of sight when not in use.
Inspector Baker also said it was “quite understandable that people in the town had been concerned about several high profile robberies in Burnham last year.”
He described the two armed raids on the town’s Tesco supermarket as “serious” and said a file had been given to the Crime Prosecution Service in relation to the first raid, and that “we are confident we know who was behind the second raid.”
Investigations into the recent violent raid on a petrol station in the town had also yielded “valuable information.”
On neighbourhood policing numbers, he reported that Burnham and Highbridge had recently been allocated an extra officer, leaving it with a total of four.
Inspector Baker said that he was “extremely confident that the number of PCSOs in the sector will soon increase to 14,” and he added: “I expect Burnham and Highbridge will then have six PCSOs in total.”
