Police boss says people fear crime despite rates

A police and crime commissioner (PCC) said he believed people felt there was a "sense of lawlessness" in a county which has one of the lowest crime rates in England.

Reform UK's Norfolk PCC Colin Sutton acknowledged the county was "very low crime", but he highlighted shoplifting and public drug-taking in places including Norwich and King's Lynn.

The most recent figures show thefts from shops and neighbourhood crimes in Norfolk have fallen over the last year.

A government spokesman said it was recruiting more police and its reforms to the system would "make policing more effective".

Elected to the role of PCC in July, Sutton is a former senior detective who is also Reform's national policing and crime adviser.

Figures from Norfolk Police show reports of shoplifting fell by 8.5% in the 12 months to the end of June, while residential burglaries went down by 13.9% over the same period.

But Sutton argued that "perceptions are real when it comes to crime".

"If you go into Norwich and you see people shoplifting, if you go into King's Lynn and see people sitting around the bus station taking drugs, [it] all kind of adds up to this sense of lawlessness," he said.

He described the criminal justice system as "broken", pointing to delays in the court system, the shortage of prison places and pressure on the probation service.

However, Sutton said it was "just amazing" that figures show an average of three house burglaries in Norfolk per day.

"I can remember a time when I was working in London where you'd have three a day in one street, let alone a whole county," he explained.

He also praised officers for their "brilliant results" dealing with shoplifting which had "been a big problem here".

Sutton also said savings made in his office had meant he could provide £140,000 to fund another police officer for Thetford for two years.

That follows disorder in the town linked to anti-immigration protests and concerns over plans by the government to house asylum seekers at the nearby RAF Barnham.

Breckland Council is also providing funds to pay for another officer in Thetford for one year.

A spokesman for the government said the justice system it inherited had been "in crisis" and it was investing in the court system to deal with the backlog of cases.

"That's why we're building 14,000 prison spaces and introducing the toughest ever range of restrictions on offenders, while boosting police numbers and delivering some of the biggest reforms in two centuries to make policing more effective and responsive to local needs," he added.

A spokeswoman for Norfolk Police said it recognised "that visible offending such as retail theft, anti-social behaviour and drug use can have an impact on people's perception of safety".

"These issues remain a focus for our neighbourhood policing teams," she said.

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