Policy pays dividends in burglary detection

POLICE say a policy of sending a detective to investigate every house burglary in Carmarthenshire is paying dividends.

National figures released by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) show Dyfed Powys has fewer domestic burglaries per population than anywhere else in Wales and England.

Of the burglaries that do occur the force also has the highest detection rate of 39 per cent, up 6.9 per cent compared to last year. The national average is 19.8 per cent.

Detective Inspector Gary Philips told the Journal: "As well as a uniform response, every dwelling burglary is attended and investigated by a detective.

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"A crime scene investigator will also regularly attend burglaries and we regularly have forensic identifications that lead us straight to the offenders.

"We also have a dedicated team which targets the most active criminals and works to prevent them going on a crime spree.

"This in turn helps keep our burglary numbers relatively low."

He said to put the Carmarthenshire figures in perspective, in 2003, before the force had a team to target the most regular offenders, it had 353 burglaries.

"This year so far we've had 119," he added.

"When you look back at the last ten years, our figures are significantly lower that they have been at any other time in that period."

Speaking about the force-wide statistics Detective Chief Inspector Greg Williams, Force lead on burglary, said: "Burglary is an invasion of each and everyone's privacy and can on occasion ruin householders' lives.

"Burglars should know that if they commit crimes in Dyfed-Powys they will be caught."

Anyone who needs to report any suspicious behaviour in their area should call the police on 101.

For any emergency involving an intruder they should dial 999.