”The figures speak for themselves.”
That is the summary of Chief Inspector Gordon Mitchell, Kirkcaldy’s leading police officer, after the force reported a big reduction in crime in the town.
To date, violent crime, vandalism and anti-social behaviour have all seen drops in comparison to 2011, while detection rates have increased after Fife Constabulary decided to prioritise its work in tackling specific problems.
Members of Kirkcaldy Area Committee will discuss the figures at a meeting, however Mr Mitchell said the results were great news for the town.
”This period has seen some excellent results in the whole of the Kirkcaldy area, including Kinghorn, Burntisland and Auchtertool,” he said.
”We have been concentrating on addressing matters that our communities tell us concern them, including serious violent crime, anti-social behaviour, vandalism and dishonesty.
”The figures speak for themselves.
”It means that you are less likely to become a victim of crime, that it identifies Kirkcaldy area as a safe place to live and visit and, in these challenging times, a safe place to do business.”
Against the same period last year, there have been 242 fewer crimes, while detection rates have jumped by 11% to 69%.
The force can boast of having detected every perpetrator of violent crime in the town this year, which saw a 2.5% reduction.
Reports of vandalism have come down by 27%.
A total of £103,000 worth of drugs was seized, while Kirkcaldy Retail Watch an initiative to tackle increasing crime at Central Retail Park has helped reduce reported crime by 46%.
As well as working with other bodies and institutions, Mr Mitchell said assistance from the public had been crucial in helping to tackle crime rates.
Emphasising the benefits that community engagement meetings have had, he urged residents to report problems to the police so crime in Kirkcaldy could be tackled further.
He continued: ”We have excellent partnership working in Kirkcaldy and we all meet once a month to discuss and work together to address many of the cross-cutting issues that we see whilst out and about in our communities.
”The local partnership ,which includes Fife Council, the NHS and local schools, is also very proactive and I have no doubt that working together in this manner goes a long way to delivering the excellent results for this period.
”We deliver all this with the help of the community and I would urge anyone who has an issue in their area that they feel we could help them with to come along to our community engagement meetings and discuss this with their local community officer so we can all work together to do something about it.”