According to new figures released today, Medway is once again one of the local authorities most affected by crime. Out of 59 areas monitored, Medway had the 11th highest crime rate, and had seen a 10% rise in recorded crimes over the last year.

Cllr Tristan Osborne, Medway Labour and Co-operative Group Spokesperson for Community Safety said: 

“Medway already had an unacceptably high crime rate, and the 10% increase we have seen to that rate within the last year alone underlines the urgency with which this problem needs to be addressed.

“Since the crime statistics were changed we have seen an increase from 19,000 (2014/15) to 32,500 incidents today. This represents a 70% increase in reported crime since 2014/15.  During this same period we saw a decline in Police numbers per head of population and a recent announcement of a 70% decline in PCSO numbers across Kent and reductions in School support teams.

“In order to help create a safer Medway, we brought a motion to Full Council last year demanding the Council lobby to secure 80 additional frontline police officers for our area. Unfortunately, the Conservatives refused to support our position at Full Council on January 2022 and our MPs locally have been passive and indifferent towards this deteriorating situation under successive Home Secretaries.”

Cllr Vince Maple, Leader of the Medway Labour and Co-operative Group added: 

“Residents deserve to feel safe in their own communities. Unfortunately, all too often we hear both on the doorstep and through our community survey that public safety is a main concern for many who live here. Local residents have been badly let down by Conservative governments in Westminster and in Medway. As leader of the Medway Labour and Co-operative Group, I can assure residents that by choosing change and voting Labour in the elections in May it would once again ensure a local authority that takes law and order seriously.”