Tayside Police Chief Constable John Vine presented his eighth and final Annual Performance Report (2007-08) to the Tayside Joint Police Board in Dundee today (June 30, 2008).

The report focuses upon the achievements and work of the Force, its officers and staff during the last financial year.

Next week, Mr Vine takes up a new post as Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency, based in London.

Today, he was pleased to inform the board that there had been an 8% reduction in crime in Tayside over the year of the report, which represents a reduction of more than 2300 crimes.

Overall detection rates were 56% exceeding the Force target of 55%

However, the Chief Constable also felt it was important to highlight the performance of the Force over the last decade in tackling crime.

There has been a 30% reduction in crimes of violence in Tayside since 1998.

Crimes of indecency are down 15%, and crimes of dishonesty (housebreaking and car crime in particular) have been cut by nearly 40% – from 21, 695 ten years ago to 13,303 today. Indeed, the numbers of houses being broken into have fallen by 36% over the last ten years and there has been a 66% reduction in car crime.

Mr Vine said:

'' We are all committed to making the communities of Tayside safer and stronger. The message from the public is that they are most concerned about anti-social behaviour where they live. Their concerns are our priorities and that is why we have an unrelenting focus on those issues which have a deleterious affect on our cities, towns and villages.

'' Tayside Police is extremely active in trying to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour. Much is achieved through every day operational policing and by maximising the numbers of officers we have on patrol. But a great deal is also done by way of operations, initiatives and partnership projects, many of which are highlighted in my annual report.

'' Preventing crime has always been a key priority for Tayside Police. Ultimately we want to see fewer victims of crime and that means fewer people dealing with the physical, emotional, social and economic problems that come with victimisation.

'' Prevention is better than cure in the long-term fight against crime. That means tackling the root causes of crime such as alochol, drugs and deprivation. It means intervening earlier to help those at greatest risk of falling into offending because of the circumstances they are in. 

'' Through continued and enhanced partnership working, discussion and planning we are all contributing towards making Tayside one of the safest places to live in the UK. For my part I am proud to call it home.''

During 2007-08, there were 651 serious violent crimes recorded by the Force, 67 fewer than in 2006-07.

Serious assaults were down from 241 to 218 (a reduction of 6%) and there was a small reduction in the number of robberies from 187 to 176. Operations such as Centre Safe in Dundee and Homesafe in western Division are considered to have had a significant impact in reducing the numbers of serious assaults.

There were a total of 911 housebreakings recorded during 2007-8, which represented a reduction of 90 crimes on the previous year.

Car crime (2154) increased, largely as a result of an increasing trend of thefts of satellite navigation systems, stereos and other unattended items from cars.

Mr Vine was pleased to report further reductions in recorded vandalisms, an indication that strong partnership working and focused initiatives are having success in effectively targeting anti-social behaviour. The recorded figure of 6804 vandalisms represents 520 fewer crimes reported than in the previous year.

279 crimes of racially aggravated harassment of conduct were reported to Tayside Police and the Force was successful in detecting 232 (83.2%) of those incidents.

The total number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads decreased significantly from 328 to 260 and there was a 6.2% reduction in the total numbers of people killed or injured in Tayside.

This total included the deaths of 29 people and in welcoming the fact that the figure is five fewer than the previous year, Mr Vine said every one of the 29 fatalities represented a horrendous tragedy for surviving friends and family.

There was a 6% increase in complaints against Tayside Police from 352 to 373. This is, in the main, due to a change in recording procedures with Quality of Service complaints being included in statistics for the first time. One of those complaints led to criminal proceedings.

There was a 17% fall in the number of drugs possession offences (385 fewer crimes), but this may be attributed to the fact that Tayside Police was and continues to be involved in a number of long-running, high level drugs operations targeting organised crime groups. 

The Chief Constable told the board that Tayside Police and its partners will re-draw the battle lines in tackling drugs in our communities and redouble efforts in targeting the drugs dealers. He said it was also time to look at radical new ways of helping drug addicts out of their lives of dependency and at the same time improve the lives of the law abiding majority.

Mr Vine said:

'' Preventing crime and anti-social behaviour are the priorities for Tayside Police and will remain as the principal elements of the Force Objectives. Police officers and staff across the Force work in partnership wherever possible to reduce the impact of crime and anti-social behaviour on our communities.

'' The challenge presented by Class A drug trafficking has and will continue to be met in the coming years and Tayside Police will actively participate in the implementation of a national drugs strategy. Enforcement will remain the main contribution of the police, although other efforts to protect communities and encourage addicts into rehabilitation will be required.

'' I leave Tayside Police confident in the knowledge that the Force is in safe hands. The people of Tayside have a Force they can be proud of, with officers and staff that I have been privileged to work alongside.

'' Tayside Police continues to make effective reductions in crime numbers. By working closely with our colleagues and partners in the three local authority areas, we are all helping to build safer and stronger communities.

'' I have enjoyed my time here tremendously and offer my best wishes for the future to board members and to the communities that they and Tayside Police serve.''

The Chief Constable's Annual Performance Report 2007/2008 can be downloaded from this site by following this link