Violent crime is on the rise across Dumfries and Galloway.
New figures show that there were more assaults in 2021/22 than there were in the previous 12 months.
And Dumfries and Galloway divisional commander, Chief Superintendent Carol McGuire, says the increase is partly as a result of life beginning to return to normal after Covid-19.
She will present her annual performance report to members of the council’s police, fire and rescue sub committee tomorrow.
Ahead of the meeting, Chief Superintendent McGuire said: “The coronavirus pandemic had a significant impact on our lives, and that included crime patterns in Scotland.
“Many types of offending behaviour reduced dramatically throughout the various restrictions we all lived under.
“Nationally, as well as locally in the south west, violent crime and crime of dishonesty, including fraud, are returning to pre-pandemic levels, but these issues are being addressed through our policing priorities.”
The report shows that there were 1,540 assaults in 2021/22 compared with 1,317 the year before. Serious assaults rose from 65 to 77 but the report points out this is a “five year low” if 2020/21 is ignored.
Assaults on emergency workers rose from 235 to 265.
The report states: “These occur most often during arrest and most commonly involve perpetrators kicking out at officers, the majority of incidents do not result in injuries being sustained.
“The trend of perpetrators coughing and spitting in officers’ faces experienced during the peak of the pandemic has reduced significantly”
There were 29 robberies and assaults with intent to rob compared to 27 previously, with attempted murders jumping from one to seven - a figure the report describes as “unusually high”. There was one murder, compared to none in 2020/21.
But disorder complaints fell from 6,980 to 5,136 following “the significant spike in calls received last year due to non-compliance with Covid restrictions”.
The figures also show a drop in rape reports from 75 to 64 and in attempted rapes from nine to four, but indecent and sexual assaults rose slightly from 166 to 170.
Domestic abuse dropped from 1.529 to 1,406.
Chief Superintendent McGuire said: “I welcome a reduction in the number of serious sexual offences within our division, as well as a drop in the number of domestic abuse incidents which have been reported to us.
“While I hope both of these trends are attributable to an overall reduction in offending, I understand victims of this kind of crime don’t always come forward straight away because they find it hard to report to us.
“I want to assure victims of any kind of crime that we will treat any report they make to us seriously and sensitively, will fully investigate the circumstances, and take the necessary legal action when required.
Housebreaking, including attempts, rose from 212 to 238 with vandalism up from 1,000 to 1,148. Fraud cases rose from 411 to 453
The number of people losing their lives on the region’s roads rose from seven in 2020/21 to 12 in 2021/22. Four of those were pedestrians, one of whom was two years old.
