POLICE in Callington are celebrating after end of year figures show that crime is down by 17.1% in the division and more offenders are being caught. It echoes the picture across the whole of Cornwall where overall crime levels are down for the fifth consecutive year. Total recorded crime for the Callington, Saltash and Torpoint divisional area was down from 2,812 to 2,330. Vehicle crime saw a 39.6% reduction from 462 to 279 and house burglaries were down by 22.5% from 89 to 69. Violent crime rose from 501 to 510 but across the county there was a reduction of 5.9% from 6,652 to 6,262. Callington police sergeant Brett Phillips said overall the picture was really good. 'Although violent crime was up slightly in the Callington, Saltash and Torpoint area, throughout the county it was down and I think it shows a pretty good performance as the detection rate has also improved in this area from 23.1% to 27.1%.' Across Cornwall the number of crimes recorded were down by 11.4%. A second police community support officer will be joining Callington station in June after completing training. The officer will succeed PSCO Nicole Garcia, who moved to Plympton Station in January. However, the neighbourhood beat team is still awaiting the post of beat manager to be filled following PC Jim Hunter's move to patrol. Police Commander for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Chief Supt Rob Cooper, said the number of house burglaries across the county was now fewer than three a day. 'We already had one of the lowest rates of burglary in the country and so a further fall is very welcome,' he said. He said one of the main reasons was the very effective work done to identify burglars and catch them — the detection rate for burglary in Cornwall was now one of the highest in the country. 'The problems that do occur are generally associated with young people drinking too much,' added Chief Supt Cooper. 'We really don't want people to stop people having fun but I instruct my officers to step in and take action as soon as they see things getting out of hand. 'The key aims here are to keep people safe and to avoid disturbance to residents.' The number of vandalism offences fell again last year from 9,393 to 8,721 but the police are determined to reduce this further. 'We will look to build on the fantastic work of the many people in our neighbourhood watch schemes to help us with this,' said the officer. He added that people across the county were not just worried about the risk of more serious crime in their local areas but rowdy behaviour, inconsiderate parking, dog fouling, and other misbehaviours that, put together, dragged down their quality of life. Through the PACT (Partners and Community Together) meetings and postcard surveys people were telling the police about the issues that were most important in their area. In Callington, the first PACT meeting was held in February which raised issues about speeding and road safety, parking and a provision for socialising in the town. Sgt Phillips said several issues had been passed on to the county council and the authority was expected to place staggered barriers between Dingle Court and Newport Close to stop a footpath being used for vehicular access and was also looking at changing the timings of traffic signals so people could cross the road safely at the town centre crossroads. Several other issues were ongoing and a report would be made at the next PACT meeting at the end of May, he said.
