The night before last, Busybodies Childcare Centre next to the police station in Lower Galdeford was broken into. Fortunately, nothing was stolen though a door was badly damaged. The police response, when the crime was reported this morning, was swift. An officer came from Kidderminster and scene of crime officers were also dispatched to the site.
It is always bad when a crime occurs. People feel violated and less confident. Along with businesses, they are also hit in the pocket. It is a shame then, that Ludlow has a higher rate of crime per head than the rest of Shropshire.
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Photos of the Busybodies break in (with thanks to Busybodies)
Busybodies alerted me to the burglary yesterday morning. By all coincidences, I had been crunching police crime data since the early hours in preparation for a future article. That data shows that we have 15% more crimes per head than the rest of Shropshire and 44% more burglaries. Antisocial behaviour is 20% higher.
We are a small town.[1] The count of crimes is low, 3,152 in the last year in Ludlow compared to 68,756 in the rest of Shropshire.[2] But this is 263 crimes per 1,000 head of population. That’s 15% higher than rest of the county, where there are 230 crimes per 1,000.
It will not be a surprise that the rate of crime is higher in some districts of bigger towns than here. But I was surprised that the ward I represent, Ludlow North, makes the top ten crime hotspots in Shropshire.
Ludlow North is way behind the leaders but it is still not a comfortable position to be in. Three crimes a day are reported in Ludlow.
Crime in Ludlow May 2015 to April 2018
Crime in Ludlow and Shropshire compared May 2015 to April 2018
We need more policing and must look at priorities. Helping Shropshire Council slap penalty charge notices on vehicles in the market square is certainly not a good use of scarce police resources.
Notes
[1]. In this article, Ludlow is defined as the three Shropshire Council divisions of Ludlow East, Ludlow North and Ludlow South. Ludlow North and South include rural areas.
[2]. Crime data from data.police.uk for May 2015 to April 2018.
It says it all when officers need to travel from Kidderminster, Worcestershire to assess a robbery which took place next to Ludlow Police Station !!!
You couldn’t make it up!
Andy, have you, or will you be calling on “OUR” Con PCC – Campion – to explain what he is doing about Ludlow’s situation … apart from incorrectly claiming that West Mercia Police now has more officers than before … which rather ignores the number of PC’s resigning because of the overwhelming demands now being made upon them, since he became PCC.
This is the guy who was elected to …“make the police more accountable,” (on behalf of the public),, through “oversight by a directly elected individual” (thePCC) who will be “subject to strict checks and balances” (via local elected reps from county councils).
Unfortunately, when some of us around Bridgnorth complained to him, because we had been threatened with criminal charges against us, if we did not stop asking questions about the actions of a Town Clerk and some Cllrs who supported her, he – Campion – said that he “did not believe it and had seen no evidence to the contrary” in spite of us presenting 172 pages of Minutes, letters, emails, press cuttings, etc.
In short, he implied that we were all liars, an opinion that our Con MP – Philip Dunne – agreed with.
So good luck with any concerns you might seek from him in support of Ludlow.
PS: The “strict checks and balances” of the PCC (via local elected reps from county councils, as the WMP Panel) has now been clarified, in that the WMP Panel has no disciplinary powers.
But I bet that they get paid from taxPAYERS money to attend the meetings to which they can make no difference.