Rise in robberies in East Dunbartonshire - but detection up, too

At a special meeting of East Dunbartonshire Council, police ran councillors through recent developments in the fight against crime.

Chief Superintendent Brian McInulty and Chief Inspector Gerry Corrigan gave a presentation to the full council at its Kirkintilloch headquarters on Thursday, September 13.

Among the issues highlighted were a number thefts committed against Asian households in 2017. Mr Corrigan said: “It was believed that these households held significant amounts of cash and gold. Understandably this caused a large degree of concern in the community, and we held several public meetings to engage with communities around these crimes and provide reassurance.”

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Police also undertook high visibility patrolling to act as a deterrent and were successful in achieving a number of arrests. Legal proceedings are ongoing.

The work of the police against domestic violence was also highlighted, as last year also saw East Dunbartonshire police organise the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC), enabling victims and their children to receive support and guidance in relation to domestic violence. MARAC meetings are held once a month to discuss the highest risk cases in the area.

With regard to violent crime as a whole, the officers presented a number of figures for East Dunbartonshire comparing April 2016 – March 2017 with April 2017 – March 2018.

In each period one murder was committed. There were no cases of attempted murder in 2017-2018 compared to four the previous year.

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Serious assault has increased slightly, from 33 with 79 per cent detection rate to 39 with 56 per cent detection. This is still below the five year average of 44.

There have been more incidents of robbery than usual,  at 16 versus 12 for the previous year and a five year average of 11. However, detection rates have also improved, at 69 per cent versus 58 the previous year.

Common assault has risen from 451 incidents to 505, but remains below the five year average of 573. Detection rates have also improved from 66 per cent to 70 per cent.

Domestic abuse has fallen from 367 to 271 and is significantly below the five year average of 449. Detection rates have also improved from 76 per cent to 82 per cent.

Neil McGrory , Local Democracy Reporting Service