Police chief praised for common sense after saying 'all crime is a priority'

A police chief has been praised for common sense, saying: ”I have a policy that says crime is a priority.”

Norfolk has seen burglary, car thefts, criminal damage, and shoplifting rates plummet because of a back-to-basics approach.

Overall crime is down 12% in a trend-bucking phenomenon that has seen the public put first.

Chief Constable Paul Sanford said: “Our communities expect and rightly deserve exceptional service. The success of this depends on getting the basics right, such as answering emergency calls promptly, investigating crime well, owning the job at hand, supporting victims and being visible.”

Norfolk is now the best-performing force for catching and prosecuting shoplifters - a crime that has risen exponentially during the cost of living crisis - with a charging rate six times that of the bottom-ranked Met Police.

In 2018 it became the first force in the country to scrap all 150 of its police community support officers.

It now has 1,899 officers - up from 1,549 in September 2013.

Writing exclusively for the Daily Express Mr Sanford said: “I believe that we can restore public confidence in policing by focusing on the things the public expect us to get right - keeping their communities and high streets safe and bringing offenders to justice.

“Crime is increasingly complex to investigate, the criminal justice system is experiencing significant challenges, and there’s sustained scrutiny on standards and culture within policing. In recent years we have witnessed some truly atrocious cases which have caused untold damage to trust and confidence in policing. A higher level of scrutiny is something I welcome, and I don’t believe there is a chief constable in the country that doesn’t.

“However, the relentless scrutiny comes at a cost to the thousands of officers across the country who go into work every day to target criminals, take dangerous people off our streets, protect the public and serve our communities. The appalling actions of a minority mask the brave and heroic acts carried out by officers each day.”

Latest figures show his force is one of the best responding in the country, answering 88.5% of 999 calls in under 10 seconds.

Norfolk has had the highest charging rate for shoplifting of any of the 43 forces in England and Wales in each of the past five years.

In the year to this March, its charge rate for shoplifting offences stood at 31.7 per cent, compared with 4.9 per cent for the Met.

When out-of-court punishments and arrested suspects admitting to other thefts are counted, the detection rate rises to 46 per cent.

Tory MP Esther McVey said: “The police force in too many areas has become more concerned with being PC than supporting its PCs, and it is refreshing to know there are still Chief Constables out there who realise their job is to protect people from crime, arrest criminals and put together the evidence to ensure criminals are locked up. We need more Chief Constables like Paul Sanford.”

Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman, National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for acquisitive crime, said: “Retail crime can have a significant impact on victims which is why we are committed to doing all we can to reduce thefts and pursue offenders, especially those prolific and habitual offenders, who cause misery within the community.

“The creation of a dedicated team within Opal, the national policing intelligence capability for organised acquisitive crime, [is focusing] on tackling the organised crime element of shoplifting. The team collates intel reports submitted by police forces, retailers and other organisations, enabling them to ‘join the dots’ between groups who are often operating across several regions, mapping the highest harm and most prolific offenders and working with police forces to bring those individuals to justice.

“The team has already seen a number of successes, identifying offenders from CCTV images using the facial recognition capability on the Police National Database and compiling reports which show groups using the same tactics to target similar retailers across many force areas. Through identifying individuals, we can then find the vehicles they are using and alert local forces to be on the look out for them entering their areas.

“The thefts these groups are undertaking often amount to tens of thousands of pounds which clearly has a huge impact on retailers.”