Today we are launching our violent crime reduction initiative which aims to reduce the numbers of violent offences in the county.

Violent crime in Lincolnshire accounts for 36% of all recorded crime. The latest crime statistics released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) have shown a 12% national rise in offences of this type.

In Lincolnshire our numbers of recorded violent crime have increased by 74% (from 12,325 to 21,447), the new ONS figures have revealed. Violent crime includes offences that have resulted in injury to the person but also those that have not caused injury, as well as offences such as stalking and harassment, and numbers of killed or seriously injured on the roads.

We know that some of the rise in numbers can be explained by changes in our recording practices. For example, we may have previously attended an incident where one victim had been affected and we recorded one crime. But during the course of enquiries that individual may have revealed other offences such as non-recent crimes which we may not have recorded. We are now making sure those offences are also captured and collated, meaning our numbers have spiked.

But some of the figures are due to genuine rises in offences.

To tackle the numbers of violence crimes in Lincolnshire we are launching a new force-wide initiative aimed at reducing and preventing further offences of this type, focussing on victims, and engaging with partners to reduce harm in our communities.

Assistant Chief Constable Kerrin Wilson explained: “Lincolnshire is still a safe place in which to live and work. The ONS stats released today show that we’re ranked 19th safest in the country.

“Saying that, I know that the numbers and some of the recent incidents in the county may be of concern to our communities. I want to explain what we’re doing in response to violent crime with our forcewide initiative.

“We have a number of tools available to us to police violent crime, which range from enforcement to measures such as the Stalking Protection Orders which came into being earlier this week, to partnership approaches with other agencies that will enable us to treat the causes of violent crime rather than the symptoms.

 “Our focus on offences of this type is aimed at preventing further victims, safeguarding those who have been victims, and bringing offenders to justice. Our victim-centred approach means that we will be putting a spotlight on the journey of a victim and trying our hardest to ensure that those individuals are not subject to any additional trauma. This is from first contact, through to the follow-up work that we do with Victim Lincs and support people are given through the Criminal Justice process, through to our complete engagement with victims.

“We have always policed violent crime but what we are doing now simply consolidates that approach and makes sure our officers and staff have a focus on driving down those numbers, which can only mean driving down the numbers of victims.

 “We will regularly be communicating the work of our teams in our communities and force-wide and will be engaging with the public along the way. A large part of policing relies on information from the public and I’m committed to ensuring that we keep talking to our communities. The more you keep talking to us and telling us about any issues or concerns you may have, the more intelligence we will be able to gather, and the more action we may be able to take.

“We’ll never say we’ve done enough, we will always review what we do and how we do it to find ways to improve the service we provide to the people of Lincolnshire.”