CHESHIRE police have been accused of “putting their own spin” on crime figures for Warrington to make it appear they are winning the war with the criminal.
Local campaigner John Mulhall raised the issue at a meeting of Warrington Police Forum when he claimed the town accounted for 29 per cent of all crime across the county while having less than 20 per cent of the population.
He said: “That is a massive difference and what it means is that Warrington needs more police officers.
“The level of crime is disproportionate when compared with the population of the town.”
But Chief Supt Gary Finchett said Mr Mulhall’s figures were incorrect.
In fact, he said, crime in Warrington represented accounted for only 21 per cent of the whole of the county.
He claimed the figures given at the Police Forum meeting were for the police northern area, which included Widnes and Runcorn as well as Warrington.
British Crime Survey comparator Crimes figures for April 2007 to March 2008 show total crimes for Warrington were 10,197, compared with the Cheshire figure of 47,384.
Chief Supt Finchett said the Northern area figures were compared by police to “most similar basic command units” such as those in Merseyside, rather than rural areas of Cheshire such as Knutsford.
On this basis, he said, the area performed well.
Crime figures in Warrington were affected by “pockets of deprivation” in the town.
But he stressed that overall levels of crime in the past year were down by 10.6 per cent. He said Police Community Support Officers were making an impact.
The target on crime reduction was 2.2 per cent but officers in Warrington were doing what they could to reduce crime further.
Currently there were, on average, 34 arrests a day and police were targeting crime hotspots.
Mr Mulhall said: “The documents given out at the Police Forum referred to Warrington – not the Northern Area.
“In the real world, Warrington is in Cheshire – not Merseyside.
“Warrington has a disproportionate level of crime compared with the rest of Cheshire and the police are putting their own spin on the figures if they are comparing the town with Merseyside towns.”
