PCC praises community focused crime prevention
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PCC (Police and Crime Commissioner) praises community-focused crime prevention as force outperforms national and regional crime trends.
Proactive action to prevent offending before it harms victims and communities is achieving sweeping reductions in crime across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, latest figures reveal.
The new Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) provides further evidence that Police and Crime Commissioner Rupert Matthews’ unprecedented focus on preventing crime in the first place is paying dividends.
Total recorded offences across the force area per 1,000 population decreased to 77.4 in the 12 months up to December 2025 – below the national average of 83.5 – and the area continues to significantly outperform both regional and national averages for shoplifting and drug offences with violence against the person offences per 1,000 population also beating regional and national rates.
The survey also highlights strong performance against several of the public’s top priorities including violence with injury offences which have fallen by 15.1% compared to the previous year and violent offences in general (with or without injury) reducing by 4.1% across the year.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner’s tireless efforts alongside the force and the Violence Reduction Network (VRN) to address the root causes of knife crime and serious violence continues to deliver impressive results with possession of weapons offences plummeting 30% up to December 2025 – the second lowest reduction in the region.
Police and Crime Commissioner Rupert Matthews said:
“These figures are wholly welcomed and provide proof that our relentless efforts to build strength and resilience in our communities and resolve the precursors to crime are really working.
“Sir Robert Peel – the father of modern policing – believed success should be measured not on arrests but by the absence of crime and disorder and I wholeheartedly stand by that approach, building my Police and Crime Plan around this vital principle.
“But crime prevention must be balanced with robust and effective enforcement – residents rightly expect criminals to be pursued, arrested and brought to justice for their crimes. These results also prove the value in visible and swift justice in deterring crime, highlighting the force’s exceptional success in targeting those who persistently cause the most harm.
“Our officers, volunteers and police staff do a phenomenal job keeping our people safe and this success is testament to their dedication, commitment and expertise 365-days-a-year.
“We must also recognise our partners and communities for increasing opportunities for people to transform their lives, turn their backs on crime and overcome the barriers holding them back. These results would be impossible without their ongoing support.”
Grace Strong, Director of Prevention for Leicestershire Police, said:
“These results show that a strong focus on prevention is making a real difference in our communities. While it’s encouraging to see crime falling, we will not lose momentum and will continue to build on this progress by embedding a prevention-led approach across the force, working collaboratively with partners and communities to tackle issues at the earliest opportunity." Grace Strong, Director of Prevention.
The CSEW reveals impressive reductions in sexual offences (-7.5%), theft offences (-6.4%) and burglary offences (-4.5%) with residential burglaries recording a 7.4% decrease in the 12 months up to December 2025.
Vehicle offences, meanwhile, have hit a record 11.5% decrease compared to the 12 months previously, with reductions also recorded for criminal damage and arson (-4.6%), drug offences (-4.6%) and public disorder offences (-6.7%)
In his Police and Crime Plan, the PCC sets out his mission to make Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland safer and more prosperous through a clear focus on prevention, bringing offenders to justice and supporting victims and witnesses.
The PCC has vowed to work in partnership with safety partners and communities, investing in the early diversion of young people and vulnerable adults away from the criminal justice system and robust offender management programmes which balance the need for proactive enforcement with tackling the source of offending behaviour.
Through his Community Action Fund, the PCC distributes significant funding into the hands of those who know their communities best to strike at the roots of criminality and anti-social behaviour (ASB), with funding shared across six rounds across the year, each meeting a core priority in the Police and Crime Plan.
The fund aims to stop problems before they start by enlisting the support of grassroots organisations in efforts to reduce crime, ease pressure on the emergency services and build safer, more connected communities with grants of up to £10k available for successful applicants.
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