The number of sexual offences increased by a quarter and robberies spiked by nearly a third in Bath and North East Somerset in 2017/18.

Police figures being shared with the Council’s Bath city forum show there was also a sharp rise in the number of fraud cases compared to 2016/17, from seventeen to 27 cases, representing a 58 percent increase, and there were 23 percent more burglaries – a rise from 872 to 1,070.

There were 333 sexual offences and 119 robberies, up from 266 and ninety, respectively. In contrast, the number of drug offences halved, from 405 to 209, and the figure for arson fell by sixteen percent from 62 to 52.

Across Bath and North East Somerset, the total figure increased by 3.4 percent to 11,921, while the national picture is thirteen percent up on 2016/17. Police in the area had a 0.2 percent increase in requests for attendance, giving a total of 40,356.

The report to the forum says customer satisfaction has traditionally been high in Bath and North East Somerset, and it continues to perform well. The current satisfaction rate is 78.5 percent.