THERE has been a slight increase in crime in Newquay following a rise in criminal damage, public order offences and shoplifting incidents.

Police recorded 198 incidents in February compared to 184 in February.

A number of offence groups saw an increase in incidents in February compared to January, which included criminal damage from 13 to 28, possession of weapons from three to six, public order offences from 15 to 18, shoplifting from four to 13 and vehicle offences from one to nine.

There was a decrease in a number of offence groups in February compared to January that included possession of drugs from nine to three, stalking and harassment from 32 to 27 and violence without injury from 47 to 32.

There was a slight decrease in violence with injury offences with 23 incidents in January and 21 in February.

Inspector Steve Johnson said: “With regards to the increases; there has been a notable rise in criminal damage.

“There is no real pattern or particular areas of note, except there was a number of vehicles damaged in a hotel car park over one night. These reports have inflated the damage figures for this month. Enquiries continue into these offences.

“There is also a rise in offensive weapons. These aren’t necessarily weapons that have been used on someone else, more found on people when they have been detained.

“One person in particular has been found twice in a matter of days. They are now being dealt with via the charging review system.

“Shoplifting has seen a rise. Some of this is down to increased reporting as I have been requesting for some time now. This generates patterns and repeat offenders. One of whom has recently been charged to court a number of the ones reported. I have mentioned previously about seeing those patterns early and intervening, arresting and charging people to court. This has contributed over the last year to a 20 per cent reduction in shoplifting offences: not withstanding of course my plea for improved reporting.

“The vehicle offences are down to a small traffic Operation and include things like driving with no insurance, other than in accordance with a license etc.

“Decreases in offences such as violence with and without injury could be attributed to the visible policing during the evening and nighttime economy, which has seen a decrease in these types of incidents during these hours.

“Since the start in December there have been 123 patrols.

“Officers have intervened in minor public order incidents, (preventing them from escalating) carried out licensing checks, provided reassurance for women and girls moving around in this area and been present to apprehend offenders for serious assaults.

“Only a couple of weeks ago Officers carried out four arrests on a Saturday evening. This is out of the ordinary, particularly for this time of the year, but it does set the tone around police being present and the town low tolerance for any anti-social behaviour.”