Crime in town is on increase, say police

The report, presented to Malmesbury Town Council last week by Malmesbury's police chief, Sergeant Kier Pritchard, showed that crimes in the town had increased from 194 between May 2001 to April 2002 to 227 from May this year until now.

Sgt Pritchard said: "Half of the 24 burglaries so far have been in the town centre.

"There have been 37 out-buildings burgled, a third of which were in the town centre.

"And 60 percent of the 45 criminal damage offences committed so far were in the town centre."

Eleven police patrol 130 square miles covering Luckington, Kemble, Dauntsey, Wootton Bassett and Cricklade, as well as Malmesbury. Another officer is due to join the station at Burton Hill.

Sgt Pritchard said they would like to be able to patrol the town more but covering a large area is difficult.

"We understand people would like to see officers on foot but covering such a distance means that we can never be very far from our cars," he said.

But he said the rise in crime could be attributed in part to a change in the way that the police record it.

Home Secretary David Blunkett changed the system last July so that all allegations made by victims are recorded as crimes.

And incidents in which there are multiple victims will be counted as separate crimes. For example, if a thief targets five cars in the same car park, the incident would be recorded as five separate crimes.

Malmesbury is also a hot spot for travelling criminals who target the secluded locations of the houses and outbuildings in the countryside surrounding the town.

Sgt Pritchard said: "We can be in a car patrolling a country road at night and criminals could be breaking into a house while we drive past and we can't see them.

"This is not a high crime area. These figures are small compared to the national average. The high percentage of crime committed in the town centre is something we are looking into."