SHOPLIFTING topped the list of crimes committed in two Barnsley villages, a police sergeant has told councillors.
Sergeant Brad Wynne discussed local crime figures at a community safety meeting held in Royston, attended by local councillors and representatives from Neighbourhood Watch.
He said police figures from the past six weeks showed that crime rates had been higher in Monk Bretton than Royston but that shoplifting was prevalent in both areas.
He said about 40 crimes were recorded in Monk Bretton and about 30 in Royston, including burglaries, criminal damage, arson, shoplifting and theft from cars.
Compared with other community safety meetings areas, Sgt Wynne said there are no spikes in the two villages and surrounding districts and crime is considered ‘average’.
“In Royston over the last six weeks, there has been eight residential burglaries and that includes sheds and the like,” Sgt Wynne said.
“To put it in context crime is not terribly high in Royston. By far the biggest problem is shoplifting because there is Asda and Co-op.”
He said officers give advice to the stores on how to prevent incidents of shoplifting but more often than not this is not followed.
Sgt Wynne told the meeting: “We’re working with Asda and Co-op to reduce it but the general principle is they are there to make a profit and the actions we advise are not followed up because when you look at the bigger picture, they have experts who say put chocolates at the front of the store and 200 boxes are sold every week, and six might get stolen, but the 200 sold covers the shoplifting that was taken.
“It’s all about profit and loss and they make more putting items at the front of the store than they suffer from the losses.
“This applies to big crates of beer too. A brewery may say if you put San Miguel at the front of the store we will give you an additional discount and they make more profit and the brewery reimburses for any shoplifting.”
The meeting was also told there had been 30 incidents of anti-social behaviour in Royston during the same six week period, including vehicle nuisance, fireworks, noise and nuisance neighbours.
Sgt Wynne said it was reassuring there had been no repeat incidents.
Data showed there were more crimes reported in the Monk Bretton area in that same period. Shoplifting rates were high, with three in Lundwood, ten in Carlton and two in Monk Bretton itself.
“Shoplifting is high but there hasn’t been any other spikes,” he told the meeting.
“In terms of antisocial behaviour there has been slightly more but it is a slightly bigger area but there is nothing there that would suggest a trend.
“We have the addresses and streets where incidents happened and there were very few repeat locations apart from Littleworth Lane which is one that comes up for vehicle nuisance and off road bikes.”
The next community safety meeting is on Tuesday, December 19 at The Grove community room in Royston. It starts at 10am.
