Shortly after Scottish police reported the lowest levels in crime rates in almost four decades, statistics revealed by chief constable Sir Stephen House showed that some parts of Scotland are witnessing a sudden, sharp rise in “acquisitive” crimes and sexual offences.
Acquisitive crime includes burglary, robbery, and other types of theft. According to House, the figures for this type of crime have been on the rise, with the largest increase being recorded in break-ins, in particular break-ins to garden sheds. There are also several hotspots where theft has soared lately, including Edinburgh, Fife and Tayside, he told attendees at a Scottish Police Authority meeting.
House explained that the police are going to review the way these crimes are tackled and will identify ways to curb the number of crimes. This issue will be investigated by assistant chief constable Wayne Mawson, he announced. The chief constable said that the increase was unusual because it was very sharp over a relatively short period of time and was disproportionate to other parts of Scotland. There should be a specific reason behind such a “patchy” rise and the police will have to detect it and tackle it, Herald Scotland reported.
The chief constable stressed that tackling this type of crime was important because if these figures were combined with the rise in sexual offences, there was a risk of pushing total crime rates up again.