A COUNCIL boss has said there "is no excuse for shoplifting" after new figures revealed shop thefts and drugs offence in Harwich have soared, while crime overall has fallen.
Essex Police figures show crime in Harwich has dropped by 7.1 per cent in the last year, as well as anti-social behaviour, which has fallen by 42 per cent.
Shoplifting in Harwich, Harwich East, Harwich Central, Parkeston, Ramsey, Great and Little Oakley, however, has increased by 40 per cent in the last year, equalling 17 more incidents.
Recorded drug offences in Harwich have also increased year-on-year by 82.5 per cent, an increase of 47 offences.
But inspector Aaron Homatopoulos, of the Community Policing Team, believes this is down to “the proactive work of officers using stop and search powers, which have yielded a significant number of positive results”.
He also described the fall in crime overall in the town to be a “positive trend”, but acknowledged such figures would “mean little to people who have been a victim of crime”.
“We will continue to work determinedly to reduce crime further," he added.
Looking at Tendring as a whole, crime has fallen by almost nine per cent in the last year, while anti-social behaviour incidents fell by 39 per cent with 748 fewer offences.
Harwich’s vehicle crime, meanwhile, reduced by 21 per cent with 17 fewer offences but across Tendring it decreased by more than 30 per cent with 235 fewer incidents.
Harwich councillor Ivan Henderson said: “There are the continual concerns about the unnecessary antisocial behaviour such as vandalism like the recent toilets being smashed up.
“One of the biggest issues for any community is the increase in drugs in the community and I think those figures actually show the proactive action of police officers who are clamping down on the crime.
“People shoplifting increases prices for everyone else and a lot of the time they threaten and assault shop workers which is never acceptable.
“Although we should not need them in this day and age, there is a food bank and other support in Harwich.
“There is no excuse for shoplifting”.
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