£9m shortfall hits crime stats

Mar 7 2008 by David James, South Wales Echo

COUNCIL leader Rodney Berman has blamed rising crime figures on central Government withholding cash from South Wales Police.

Violent crime in Cardiff is rising and police are failing to hit burglary targets, according to statistics for the third quarter of the 2007-08 financial year presented to the city’s executive yesterday.

The meeting at County Hall heard that the rise in violent crime to 2,259 incidents in the three months from November to January was partly down to stricter recording methods.

But, facing criticism from Labour and Tory leaders, Coun Berman highlighted Chief Constable Barbara Wilding’s claims that the force is facing a £9m funding shortfall next year.

He said: “Unless the services are adequately resourced, we’re not going to get the improvements we would like to see. This has to go all the way to central Government.”

Ms Wilding has criticised Westminster for the way it funds the Welsh police forces which means South Wales Police has been denied its full needs-based funding for several years.

According to the figures presented yesterday, Cardiff saw 5,942 violent crime incidents in the nine months from April to December 2007.

The number of burglaries in Cardiff in the same nine-month period has also already topped the annual target of 1,696.