West Yorkshire Police have responded to the publication of the latest crime statistics for 2017/18.
The latest figures show an increase of crime in the county of 11 per cent, though the force claims just over half of this can be attributed to their “ongoing work to improve crime recording practices”.
Across the country there was a rise of nearly 13 per cent.
West Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Dee Collins said they are experiencing an “unprecedented” amount of calls: “Last year we answered an extra 23,000 999 calls. Many of these were from vulnerable people requiring urgent help in increasingly complex situations including organised and cyber crime and often requiring our safeguarding expertise. Our experience is that this high demand has continued into the summer.
“We continue to work closely with our partners to provide a multi-agency approach to preventing crime, anti-social behaviour and other issues which harm our local communities.
“Our officers and staff are working extremely hard to provide the best quality service to people across the county but will always prioritise those in the most vulnerable circumstances.
“We would urge our local communities to support us by taking appropriate crime prevention measures and also thinking before they call either the 999 emergency number or the 101 non-emergency number. We have to prioritise our calls and ensure that we deal with emergencies first.”
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