Lincolnshire Police have seen a sudden rise in crimes on vehicles in Lincoln, with a doubling of offences reaching 22 cases in the last week alone.
Break-ins have taken place in several streets, but also in business compounds where company cars have also been targeted.
With cases averaging 6 break-ins a week, Inspector Pat Coates, a community police officer for the North of Lincoln, has expressed his concern about such a rapid increase.
“It’s quite a large spike and that is way above the normal volume of offences we have, which is obviously quite concerning for us.”
Crimes are said to be higher than 22 because, when offenders break into businesses, they can target more than one car at a time, sometimes breaking into 10 to 15 cars simultaneously.
Over Christmas, LSJ reported on how break-ins were on the decrease due to a successful campaign, but now the operation has stopped, crimes have spiked again.
“We ran the campaign with extra police officers, did all the media work, we arrested the two offenders and the offences stopped, and obviously we then have to turn to other priorities.”
Lincolnshire Police emphasise that peaks in crime are expected and factors that cause the increase in offences on vehicles are more about the offenders rather than police activity.
“If a new offender comes and moves on the area or an offender gets released from prison, that’s when generally we see a spike in offences.”
More resources have been put into areas in and around Lincoln and Lincolnshire Police are doing all they can to bring safety back to the streets of Lincoln.