BARNARD Castle is seeing a “huge decrease” in crime.
There have been 175 reported crimes in Barnard Castle in the financial year to date compared to 273 in the same period last year, according to figures given by Sgt Angela Drasdo. That’s a fall of nearly 36 per cent.
Overall in Teesdale, there has been a 27 per cent reduction in recorded crime.
In a report to Barnard Castle Town Council, Sgt Drasdo said: “There has been a significant reduction in crime for Barnard Castle Town in the year to date. A lot of this will be due to Covid restrictions and lockdowns.
“Durham force has seen a ten per cent reduction – however Teesdale is bucking the trend with such a huge decrease. There are no crime trends. Rural crimes are still very low. Thankfully, this can be, in part, credited to the wide network of Rural Watch volunteers who contribute to monitoring activity across the dales.”
However, Sgt Drasdo added: “Drugs continue to be part of every day society. We are aware through intelligence that folk deal and use drugs in town. We have an initiative in the town regarding drugs activity assisted by information provided. If anyone is aware of of drugs activity call police on 101 or Crimestoppers.”
The meeting heard that police had issued a number of warnings this month to people breaching “stay local” Covid guidelines.
Durham Police has a policy of educating the public before issuing fines, the meeting was told.
