People urged to report crime as more robbery and theft offences recorded in Bedfordshire

It comes as Bedfordshire Police said that its most recent performance review showed that there has been an increase of 2,000 extra offences in overall crime since April. Assistant Chief Constable John Murphy said that despite this, the force’s “solved crime rate has risen year on year”.

Home Office figures show 587 robbery crimes were recorded by Bedfordshire Police in the year to June – up 6 per cent from 555 the year before.

Similarly, theft offences increased 4 per cent from 17,271 in the year to June 2023 to 17,994 last year.

In Bedfordshire, 4,548 shoplifting offences were recorded last year, a 17 per cent increase on the year before.

Theft from the person crimes rose 12 per cent in the area, with 556 logged in 2023-24.

Assistant Chief Constable John Murphy said: “We recognise the impact that so-called volume crime offences such as theft and shoplifting can have on communities and businesses, and conduct targeted operations in hotspot areas to help counter this.

“Our community policing teams regularly engage with many businesses across the county to help target-harden them from these types of crimes and to help identify and apprehend prolific offenders.”

He explained that the demand in Bedfordshire is “complex” and the “resources have to balance the need to tackle both high harm and volume crime offences”.

He added: “We would continue to encourage people to report any instances of crime so that we can fully investigate and help take offenders off the streets.”