Some crimes in St Helens are not being reported due to 101 'frustrations'

According to data released by Police UK, St Helens Town Centre ward recorded the most cases of violence and sexual offences in Merseyside last year.

Police chiefs in St Helens have put the figures down to “improved crime recording”.

Cllr Jeanie Bell, St Helens Council’s cabinet member for community safety, said the overall picture for the Town Centre ward is “concerning”.

The Labour councillor also warned that many crimes are going unreported.

“Although crime recording may have improved we also know as ward councillors that, anecdotally, people are not reporting crime due to frustrations with the 101 service and the length of time taken to get through,” Cllr Bell said.

“It isn’t a simple picture and it’s concerning for our Town Centre ward.”

Since 2016 crimes have been recorded on a ‘per offender’ basis as opposed to ‘per victim’, bringing it in line with Home Office reporting.

Between January and December 2019, there were 1,422 cases of violence and sexual offences recorded in the Town Centre ward, which covers areas such as Fingerpost and Greenbank.

Violent and sexual crimes include assaults, murder, rape and sexual assaults.

The data, which was examined by the Liverpool Echo, shows there were 122 cases of violence and sexual offences for every 1,000 people living there.

By comparison, central Liverpool showed 94 for every 1,000 residents.

Overall, there were 20,622 crimes recorded across St Helens between January and December 2019.

Cllr Jeanie Bell, St Helens Council's cabinet member for community safety

“The figures, which have been released this weekend, demonstrate the need for crime to be recorded per head of population and broken down by ward,” Cllr Bell said.

“It gives a much clearer picture as to the density of incidents in smaller boroughs such as ours.

“Reporting only on the number of crimes and allocating police resource in that way will always see places like Liverpool Central allocated higher levels of policing, when actually certain crime is higher in other places.”

Cllr Bell added: “We are committed to working with our partner agencies to ensure that both residents and visitors are safe in St Helens.

“We have recently coordinated campaigns and action in our night time economy in the Town Centre and will continue to work with Merseyside Police and the wider Community Safety Partnership to prevent crime and disorder in the borough, and to ensure that those who commit serious offences in our community are held to account.”