THERE were 307 crimes in Launceston from April 1 to October 15 — a 29.5% increase on the same period last year.

But a recent report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has led to training, which means more crimes are being recorded in the right manner, according to PC Steve Stoppard of the local policing team.

In HMIC’s assessment of Devon and Cornwall Police, it raised ‘deep concern’ about the force’s crime-recording practices.

PC Stoppard attended the meeting of Launceston Town Council at the town hall on October 17 where he shared the crime figures and took questions from councillors.

He said from April 1 2016 to October 15 2016 there were 237 recorded crimes — the figures are from the town and Launceston rural.

He said of this year’s increase: “That sounds pretty bad,” but he added they are making sure that everything that needs to be recorded as a crime now is ‘crimed’. He added: “That’s why those figures are up.”

Historic offences are also now ‘crimed’. PC Stoppard said: “You can imagine crimes can come to light now from the 60s, 70s, 80s.”

He said there has been a ‘dramatic’ drop in the number of burglaries. A major problem now is the internet. “Internet based crimes, online scams, that’s where our crime figures are coming from,” PC Stoppard said.

He has been working with schools to try and pass on internet safety knowledge to parents and pupils, but expressed disappointment that these are often not well attended. One of the main issues, he said, is ‘sexting’, but at a internet safety session at one local secondary school, only four parents turned up. He said parents need to know about the dangers, rather than ‘ignore’ it if they do not know much about it. “We just can’t seem to get them through the door,” he added.

‘Sexting’ can land someone with a criminal record and on the sex offenders register.