Burglaries are up on last year

Overall crime in Mid & East Antrim may be down by 1.2% from April to October but crime types including burglary and robbery have risen.

Details were contained in statistics the six month report on performance against the Policing Plan which was unveiled to last Wednesday night’s meeting in public of Ballymena Policing & Community Safety Partnership (PCSP) in Ballymena by District Commander, Superintendent Ryan Henderson.

His report revealed that burglary was the crime type that had shown one of the greatest increases in the district during the period pointing out that a sudden spike in commercial burglaries in Larne had “impacted considerably” on the figures.

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He said that residents leaving windows open when not at home had given rise to opportunistic burglaries which had also impacted on the figures and added that the number of burglaries involving older victims had increased during the period though he stressed that there was little evidence to show that they had been specifically targeted due to their age.

Statistics revealed police had failed to achieve the target of a two per cent reduction in the number of burglaries which saw an increase of 34 or a rise of 14.5%, with domestic burglaries up for the period year on year by 14.5% and a 21.9% rise in burglaries where older people were victims.