Police admit struggle to communicate over Cornwall's crime level

I've blogged before about the level of crime in SE London when I lived there. Compared to that, crime in Launceston is miniscule. That's not to dismiss those crimes which do happen. They can be extremely alarming and harmful to those people who are directly affected, but the key message to everyone else is that they are few and far between.

Today the Council's Communities Scrutiny Committee heard from Chief Superintendent Elaine Marshall, the officer who heads up the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership for Cornwall. I asked her about the level of crime in Cornwall and what local residents thought about it.

She confirmed that Cornwall has one of the lowest crime rates in the UK. Cornwall is linked with 14 other police areas with similar characteristics. Even among these areas (which tend to have lower than average crime rates), Cornwall has the lowest crime rate and is third out of fifteen in detection rates.

That's a fantastic record, but Chief Superintendent Marshall admitted that the the Police find it very difficult to get the message that Cornwall has a low crime rate through to people. She wants to work more closely with the Council and other organisations to get the message across. I think that's absolutely right and will be working in my capacity as the Chair of the Launceston Community Network to ensure the message gets out.