Crime has fallen by a fifth across Brighton and Hove since the start of the coronavirus lockdown, a senior Sussex Police officer told councillors and community leaders yesterday (Thursday 7 May).
Chief Superintendent Nick May, the divisional commander for Brighton and Hove, also said that the lockdown had changed the nature of offending.
He said that there had been a shift away from burglary and from the violence associated with the night-time economy.
But crime had started to creep up again, Chief Superintendent May told a “virtual” Brighton and Hove City Council committee meeting.
In the past month Sussex Police had made 33 arrests for burglary in the area, the police chief told the council’s Tourism, Equalities, Communities and Culture Committee.
Bike thefts were also on the increase – and on Monday 25 April officers found 40 stolen bicycles in the back garden of a property in Brighton.
Councillors asked about changing crime patterns during a debate about the council’s Community Safety and Crime Strategy for 2020-23.
Conservative councillor Dee Simson said that the coronavirus lockdown meant that Brighton and Hove was in a very different position to when the strategy was drafted.
She said: “We will see changes. Retail crime will fall because the shops are shut. Burglaries are reduced because everyone is locked in and no one can break in.
“Everything is reduced apart from domestic violence and that’s on the increase. It’s important and needs to be kept on top of.
“Monitoring year on year will not be possible as we have done before.”
She asked for an update showing the effects of covid-19 on crime in Brighton and Hove before the strategy went before the full council.
Fellow Conservative Robert Nemeth backed the call for an update and asked for a report on anti-social behaviour on Hove seafront after a spate of beach hut being burgled and vandalised.
Councillor Nemeth said: “It’s a good example of somewhere where we can have co-operated action between the police and the council.
“There’s CCTV and we can check which assets are vandalised. There are a lot of council assets along the two-mile stretch of the seafront.”
Green councillors asked for a report on domestic violence during the lockdown, abusive behaviour towards essential workers and support for officers in the community.
Chief Superintendent May said that reports of domestic abuse had decreased but once the lockdown was relaxed, he added, victims may feel more able to call the police and seek support.
Green councillor Clare Rainey said that in her ward, Queen’s Park, there was increasingly visible anti-social behaviour – and historical problems and drug crime were worse.
She said: “Established ways of supporting victims have to be rethought due to the new restrictions on travel.
“Patterns of criminal behaviour, such as abuse of key workers, have also become more common.”
Fellow Green Steph Powell agreed, saying that the pandemic had brought many changes in all walks of life as well as to the crime figures.
Councillor Powell, who works for Sussex Police, said that she was aware of increasing domestic violence, theft, scamming and a “torrent of abuse” aimed at key workers.
She said: “We cannot fail to notice and remember the economic impact of all of this on the public sector.
“The 10 years of austerity has taken its toll as well on the police among all of the public services, so all of this must be looked at in order to assess and plan for the future of our city.”
Labour councillor Carmen Appich backed the Greens’ call for a report, saying that she was aware of increasing problems related to domestic violence.
The draft strategy is due to go before the full council in July.
Clearly the headline should start “Reported crime falls…”