Crime is on the rise in Staffordshire

The county’s police force recorded 83,747 offences in 2017, according to new figures from the Office of National Statistics.

Chief Constable Gareth Morgan said he was ‘disappointed’.

He voiced concern over a rise in knife crime fuelled by a culture of weapon possession, up 16 per cent, which has ‘become increasingly glamorised’.

Chief Constable Morgan said: “It’s disappointing that Staffordshire, like most other areas of the country, has seen an increase in recorded crime.

“Reflecting the national knife crime picture, we are recording more offences.

"In Staffordshire, young males are carrying knives for self-defence, or as a mark of gang membership or initiation, which is a culture that has become increasingly glamorised.

“To address this, we are looking at how we can more effectively target our stop-and- search powers, based on good community intelligence, to deter and identify those individuals who are carrying knives.”

Incidents of violence against a person went up 14 per cent, stalking and harassment rose 29 per cent and sexual offences went up 22 per cent.

But Chief Constable Morgan emphasised not all violent crimes were physical.

He said: “The increase isn’t confined to offences that cause physical harm, but rather offenders using social channels to cause the victim distress or anxiety.

“This, together with an increase we’ve also seen in stalking offences, is central to us investing in training and technology, to speed up investigations and improve victim confidence.”

On sexual offences, he said: “A significant element of this is down to victims continuing to have confidence to come forward with non-recent cases of rape and sexual assault.

“The increase can also be attributed to offenders having more ways, on and off-line, to find and engage potential victims.”