CRIME in the Trowbridge area is up nearly ten per cent from the previous month and is as much as 107 per cent higher than neighbouring areas.

But it has seen a drop on last year.

According to police.uk, the national website for policing 702 crimes were reported by the public in September this year – a rise of 9.6 per cent on August.

Of these the most prevalent crimes included violence and sexual offences, antisocial behaviour, and criminal damage and arson.

At the latest meeting of Trowbridge Town Council, a resident said that people were worried about the rising crime in the county town.

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Compared with the neighbouring area of Warminster and Westbury – where 338 incidents were reported – the figures for Trowbridge were much higher.

In the Devizes area which contains Marlborough, Pewsey and the Lavingtons 402 crimes were recorded.

Crime in the Trowbridge area is also 40 per cent above that of Chippenham.

Trowbridge policing area also includes Bradford on Avon, Melksham and Seend but the majority of the crimes (465) are reported in the county town and its surroundings.

Speaking to the town council Sgt Charlotte Chilton Wiltshire Police figures were different to police.uk.

The county’s force has 541 recorded incidents which Sgt Chilton said were very different to crimes.

“Some of the things highlighted on the police.uk website were incidents of antisocial behaviour which aren’t crimes, and whilst we still take them very seriously it is important there is a difference between an incident and a crime,” she said.

“The fact that we may have seen an increase in reported incident isn’t necessarily showing that there’s an increase in incidents or crimes happening – just that they are being reported to us.

“Therefore we’ve got a slightly truer picture of what’s going on in Trowbridge.”

She added that recorded crime from November 2020 to October 2021 dropped by around 1.5 per cent which was contrary to the police.uk statistics.

In terms of antisocial behaviour in the town, Sgt Chilton said the force was working to deal with further incidents in the Castlemead area of the town, and hopes to go to court later this week to obtain a partial closure order for one property.

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She reiterated that it was important for residents to report such incidents so that the police can collect evidence and then take further action.

A housing association covering nearby Charlotte Square is taking the lead to curb ASB and has been successful in obtaining a civil injunction to assist enforcement.

The report to full council added that in the run up to Christmas, both uniformed and plain clothes officers would patrol the Trowbridge to support shops during the day and the night time economy in the evenings.