The Stone Police Liaison Group, run by Stone’s 5 Borough Councillors who liaise with the Local Police Commander and Stone’s Sergeant Lead, has welcomed the drop in crime levels after initiatives by police were implemented.
The SPLG meets quarterly to review local crime levels and trends, promote intelligence gathering and help improve communication and feedback between residents, businesses and our local police team. The group is joined by invited officers of local residents associations and members of the business community and a number of local ward Town Councillors.
As residents may be aware, overall crime levels in the town rose last year at the start of the Pandemic and particularly so during the second half of the year. This resulted in an increased police presence and targeted action against offenders. As a result of these initiatives, overall crime levels have fallen considerably and are currently at or below pre-Pandemic levels.
Local Police Commander, Chief Inspector Giles Parsons will be releasing more information for residents shortly. He said: “There was a rise in local crime in Stone during 2020 that resulted in concerted police action. We are pleased that this has yielded positive results and that local crime is now back below historic levels. My team is committed to ensuring that we work productively with residents and businesses to keep crime levels as low as possible.”
There are a number of live investigations ongoing and there will be a special focus on monitoring the
situation once Pandemic restrictions are relaxed.
Councillor Ian Fordham, SPLG Chair, said: “There was understandable concern amongst residents and business owners about the rise in local crime last year and the reasons behind it, many of which were associated with the Pandemic. It is good to see that the police actions over several months have had a positive impact and that a number of repeat offenders are no longer in the Town. Looking to the future, we can all help with reporting of incidents and I know that Giles will have more to say on this next week.”
