Crime up 77% in Tilgate and 13% across Crawley

New figures reveal crime in Crawley has risen by 13% in under a year, including a staggering 77% increase in Tilgate. The figures have prompted renewed calls from the town’s Labour councillors for frontline Police cuts to be reversed.

Sussex Police figures reveal that between August last year and July 2019—the most recent month for which data has been made available—crime in Crawley has risen by almost a sixth, with Tilgate suffering the biggest increase.

Since 2010, Sussex Police—who are responsible for policing in Crawley—have lost a third of their funding from central government, meaning that despite large increases in the police’s portion of council tax the service remains seriously under-funded.

Over the same period, Sussex Police have lost 634 Police Officers and 160 PCSOs, with 98% of police cuts coming from frontline roles.

Speaking about the state of policing in Crawley, Cllr Lamb said:

“Everyone could see that cutting police numbers would result in an increase in crime and yet year-after-year local residents are being forced to live with the growing risk that they or their loved ones will be a victim of crime.

“For all the Government’s promises, the numbers show our local police force still won’t see their funding fully restored or officers returned, leaving criminals to do as they want. That is totally unacceptable. Crawley deserves better.”