BURGLARIES in Crouch End have increased by 17 per cent over the past year, with a home being broken into every two and a half days, the latest statistics for reported crimes show

Charlotte Newton

BURGLARIES in Crouch End have increased by 17 per cent over the past year, with a home being broken into every two and a half days, the latest statistics for reported crimes show.

But the figures, for crimes reported to the police from April last year to March 31 this year, also suggest that the total number of crimes in Crouch End has fallen by 0.6 per cent.

The number of reported crimes for the theft of vehicles fell by one per cent this year. The number of people reporting that they had been victims of car crime decreased by 17 per cent and damage to cars also fell by 21 per cent.

Robbery - where the perpetrator uses violence or threatens their victim with violence in order to steal property - decreased over the past year by 33 per cent. In addition there has been a 25 per cent reduction in "property snatches" - where items are grabbed and the suspect runs off.

Sgt John McGrath of the Crouch End Safer Neighbourhoods Team said: "Residential burglaries in Crouch End have increased by 17 per cent over the past year. This is on the back of a 40-plus per cent decrease the previous year, which would have been very difficult to maintain.

"It translates to one residence being targeted roughly every two and a half days in the area, although not all of those resulted in entry actually being gained.

"That said, it is not a good result and we will be working hard to improve on it in the coming months."

Sgt McGrath added: "I am as aware as anyone that statistics can be misleading and certainly do not tell the whole story with regard to the range of activities carried out by the Safer Neighbourhoods Team.

"However, the bottom line is that people want to know about crime levels and whether things are actually getting safer.

"Overall, I am encouraged by the figures and keen to improve on them further."

Over the past two weeks 11 vehicle-related offences have been reported, ranging from thefts of the vehicle to four instances of the door frame being bent back where no entry was gained.

There were also six attempted burglaries.

Figures for Hornsey and Muswell Hill will be published next week.

charlotte.newtonl@hamhigh.co.uk