Violent crime in South Ayrshire has increased by over 10 per cent in the last year.
Statistics from the government’s Recorded Crime in Scotland report flagged that non-sexual crimes of violence — which include serious assault and attempted murder, common assaults, and robbery — across the region recorded an 11 per cent increase in 2021-2022 compared to the previous year.
There were a total of 1,162 recorded incidents of non-sexual violent crimes in 2021-2022, an increase from 1,050 in 2020-2021.
Common assaults have jumped up from 894 in 2020-21 to 1010 in 2021-22, an increase of 13 per cent.
Serious assault and attempted murder has increased by 10 from 45 recorded in 2020-21 to 55 in 2021-22; however, this figure is down 33 percent from 2012-2013 figures, which recorded 82.
Robbery has also increased by 11 per cent from the previous year, recording 30 incidences in 2021-22, up from 27 in 2020-21.
Sexual crimes — which include rape and attempted rape, sexual assault and indecent photos of children — have gone up by six per cent in the same timeframe, with rape and attempted rape seeing a staggering 61 percent increase from 23 in 2020-21 to 37 in 2021-22.
Chief Inspector Kevin Lammie, area commander for South Ayrshire, said tackling and preventing sexual crime “is a priority for Police Scotland”.
CI Lammie said: “Overall sexual offences are still under-reported and the reasons for this are complex.
“We are committed to working closely with partners, especially support and advocacy services, to encourage anyone to report these types of crimes.
“We are committed to improving how we respond to reports of rape and sexual crime and engaging with survivor groups plays a key role in how we can improve.
“Since April 2021, Police Scotland has received feedback from nearly 490 rape survivors to better understand their experiences.
“The feedback received was 83.9% positive, but we recognise there is still much more to do as we seek to further develop our Violence Against Women and Girls strategy.
“I want to reassure anyone who has experienced sexual crime, no matter when, to come forward and report it to us.
“We are here to help. We will always listen and take action on all reports.”
House break-ins, coded under crimes of dishonesty, are considerably down from both a year ago and 10 years ago, decreasing from 242 in 2020-21 (472 in 2012-2013) to 150 in 2021-22.
Fire-raising and drugs supply have stayed the same in 2020-21 and 2021-22 at 34 and 66 respectively.
A full list of the region’s crime figures can be viewed at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2021-2022/
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