Author: Sandra

Latest figures show that Suffolk police has the third lowest recorded crime figures in the country for the fifth consecutive quarter.

The crime figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show Suffolk remains in the top three counties in England and Wales where people are least likely to be victims of crime.

Suffolk Police and Crime Commissioner Tim Passmore said: “It’s great news to hear Suffolk remains one of the safest places in the country in which to live, work, travel and invest.

“To be ranked third for the lowest levels of recorded crime in England and Wales for five consecutive quarters is a tremendous achievement and I’d like to thank officers, staff and volunteers for their unstinting commitment to maintain this favourable position.

“Suffolk is a small force covering a huge geographic area, it’s also one of the lowest-funded forces in the country, which makes this positive position even more impressive.

“The decrease of some crime types is very encouraging but it is important not to be complacent. We are well aware the data does not show the whole story because too much crime goes unreported which is why we need everyone to report the crime when it occurs. The stats show we still need to do more to reduce levels of shoplifting, and I will be monitoring this through my accountability and performance meetings where I discuss performance with the Chief Constable.”

Comparing the 12 months ending June 2025 with the previous 12 month period (ending June 2024), crime in Suffolk has decreased by 4.8%. Nationally, there was smaller a reduction in crime (-1.5% for both England and Wales).

Additionally, from September 2022 to June 2025 there was just under a 17% drop in recorded crime (52,822 to 43,847) demonstrating the force’s commitment to public service, and the strong partnerships the organisation has built with communities.

Deputy Chief Constable Rob Jones said: “These latest crime figures continue to show Suffolk is one of safest places in the country.

“However, as I have always said, whilst these figures are very encouraging, demonstrating how hard our officers and staff are working, it’s crucial to remember that every crime that is committed has a victim involved and we extend our sympathies if this is the case for you.

“The victim is at the heart of everything we do. This means putting them first with high quality investigations and engagement. We refuse to rest on our laurels but continue to improve, to work hard to keep the people of Suffolk safe and to solve crime and catch criminals.

“As expected, shoplifting continues to be a challenge for us, as it does nationwide, and these figures continue to be closely monitored.

“Overall, I hope these results demonstrate how hard officers and staff are working to keep you safe, to solve crime and to catch criminals. It’s also about having a service that is accessible and responsive with officers being where you need them to be, when they are needed the most. I am keen all officers continue to show compassion, professionalism, courage and a strong sense of community with everything they do.

“We can’t tackle crime alone and the support and assistance we receive from the public is absolutely key. We are committed to preventing crime in partnership with our local authorities, community organisations, businesses and the voluntary sector to solve problems together.

“We never forget how precious the trust and confidence that the public put in us is and we continue to work tirelessly to the benefit of our communities.”

Suffolk’s national ranking for lowest levels of recorded crime:

June 2024 – June 2025 – 3rd

March 2024 – March 2025 – 3rd

Dec 2023 – Dec 2024 – 3rd

Sept 2023 – Sept 2024 – 3rd

June 2023 – June 2024 – 3rd

March 2023 – March 2024 – 4th

Dec 2022 – Dec 2023 – 4th

Sept 2022 – Sept 2023 – 5th

June 2022 – June 2023 – 6th

Dec 2019 – Dec 2020 – ranked 13th

% change (June 2024 – June 2025):

Theft from person: -16.1%

Public order: -14.1%

Non-residential burglary: -10.4%

Criminal damage/arson: -9.2%

Stalking and harassment: -8.2%

Violence against the person: -5.3%

Drug offending: -4.7%

Vehicle offences: -4.5%

Bicycle crime: -3.2%

Sexual offences: -2.0%

Robbery: -1.8%

Domestic burglary: -1.7%

Possession of weapons: -0.7%

Knife crime: -0.3%

Shoplifting: +7.2%

Six people were arrested, more than 50 vehicles were stopped and over 60 Traffic Offence Reports were issued, during a multi-agency day of action in Ipswich last week.

Tim Passmore, Suffolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “This proactive operation has truly lived up to its name; the results clearly show it was an action-packed day.
“The officers achieved some tremendous results, proving the worth of these events aimed at keeping criminals and defective vehicles off our county’s roads.
“I fully support these multi-agency days of action, keeping Suffolk’s roads safe and free-flowing is crucially important to all of us living and working in the county, and our Roads Policing Team has a pivotal role in helping to achieve this.
“I would like to congratulate the Constabulary and all the agencies who worked hard to make this joint operation such a success, I believe the results speak for themselves.”

The operation took place on Tuesday 26 August, with the aim of disrupting and frustrating the activities of criminals, including organised crime groups, who commit offences across county borders whilst using the road network.  This was intelligence-led and involved vehicles identified as being potentially involved in criminality being brought back to a check site in the car park at Sainsbury’s on Hadleigh Road, where police and partner agencies conducted checks of the vehicles and occupants.
Officers are also focused on all-round road safety and the fatal four offences of: drink/drug driving, driving whilst using a mobile phone, speeding, and not wearing a seat belt.
Anyone suspected of committing any of these offences was also stopped, along with people driving vehicles which were unroadworthy or had a defect. All of these actions serve towards making the county’s roads safer and reduce the likelihood of someone being killed or seriously injured by an illegally/unsafely driven or defective vehicle.

The Joint Roads and Armed Policing Team were assisted by officers from the Road Casualty Reduction Team, Commercial Vehicle Unit, Sentinel Team, Local Policing Team and Special Constabulary. Partner agencies present included: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC); Home Office Immigration Enforcement; Environment Agency; and Ipswich Borough Council Taxi Licensing.

Six people were arrested as follows: three for immigration offences; two for drug-driving; and one for a number of offences after a man driving an Iveco Tipper truck failed to stop for police.
In respect of the final arrest mentioned above, officers spotted the tipper truck being driven along Civic Drive with an insecure load. After officers directed the driver to follow them, he diverted unexpectedly into Benezet Street, before contravening a ‘No Entry’ sign and driving the wrong way in Stevenson Street. A short pursuit took place and the vehicle was located in Handford Road with the assistance of other police units, where the driver was found to have swapped seats with the passenger.
Zack High, aged 26, of West Meadows, Ipswich, was subsequently charged with the following six offences: driving without due care and attention; driving whilst disqualified; failing to stop for police; driving without insurance; riding in a front passenger seat whilst not wearing a seatbelt; and using a vehicle with a load that was insecure and likely to cause danger.
High was remanded in custody and appeared before Ipswich Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 27 August, where he pleaded guilty to all six offences. He was bailed pending a sentencing hearing to be held at the same court on Thursday 9 October.

53 vehicles in total were escorted back to the check site, with just 10 leaving clear of any offences.
63 Traffic Offence Reports were issued at the check site, including: 16 for no seatbelt; 10 for poor condition of vehicle; seven for insecure loads; five for no insurance; five for illegal number plates; four for tinted windows; four for no tax; three for no MOT; three for using a mobile phone; and one each for diving whilst disqualified; failing to secure a child; overweight vehicle; not being in proper control; contravening a red light; and no driving licence.
Eight people were breathalysed for drink-driving or wiped for drug driving, two of whom were positive (as per arrest details above). Six vehicles were seized.
One vehicle was stopped due to front and rear number plates failing to conform to the regulations. Upon further inspection by officers they were found to be ghost plates and were surrendered to police.

PC Will Hudson, of the Roads and Armed Policing Team, said: “This was another very successful day of action, with numerous offences detected.
“The arrest where the driver failed to stop involved a short pursuit, during which the driver swapped places with the passenger. This is in itself a dangerous action, especially given the insecure load the vehicle was carrying. The officers involved demonstrated great professionalism in safely stopping the vehicle.
“43 of the 53 vehicles brought back to the site recorded offences of some description and what was particularly concerning – other than the arrests that were made – were the 10 TORs issued for vehicles that were in a poor condition.
“It is incumbent on all road users to adhere to the law and ensure their vehicles are roadworthy and being driven in a safe manner. Our officers are out on the roads 24/7 enforcing this, but these days help to shine a spotlight on these issues and we hope they can help to educate drivers of the risks.”

Tim Passmore, Suffolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “This proactive operation has truly lived up to its name; the results clearly show it was an action-packed day.
“The officers achieved some tremendous results, proving the worth of these events aimed at keeping criminals and defective vehicles off our county’s roads.
“I fully support these multi-agency days of action, keeping Suffolk’s roads safe and free-flowing is crucially important to all of us living and working in the county, and our Roads Policing Team has a pivotal role in helping to achieve this.
“I would like to congratulate the Constabulary and all the agencies who worked hard to make this joint operation such a success, I believe the results speak for themselves.”

Pictured: Tim Passmore at a previous day of action in Copdock on the outskirts of Ipswich.

Ipswich is the latest town in Suffolk to officially launch Clear, Hold, Build, an initiative to tackle serious and organised crime and support communities.

Clear, Hold, Build is a tactic developed by the Home Office to tackle serious and organised crime, and build more resilient communities.

The latest project for Suffolk focuses on the Gipping and Westgate wards in the town with efforts starting back in March. This encompasses an area west of the town centre, bordered by Norwich Road and Bramford Road in the north, Yarmouth Road in the west and West End Road in the south.

Tim Passmore, Suffolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner said: “I welcome the expansion of this innovative partnership approach into Ipswich. Clear, Hold, Build brings together a whole community to tackle issues within a designated area. It is already up and running in Felixstowe and Newmarket, and has proved successful in reducing crime and anti-social behaviour.
“Ipswich is our county town and extremely important for the Suffolk economy, so I am very pleased to see this additional focus in the area.
“For this scheme to be successful it will rely on everyone pulling together and providing support for the great work delivered by charities and voluntary groups. This is where the crime disorder and reduction grants awarded by my office have great potential to help deliver long term positive results.”

Superintendent Andy Martin said: “We have been carrying out lots of work in the clear stage, as we move forward with our period of enforcement.
“The aim is to rid our streets of serious and organised crime and leave more resilient communities as a result.”
“We know what damage can be done to an area by a relatively small number of criminals, and the effects anti-social behaviour, violence and the supply of drugs have on a community.”

The tactic relies on a partnership approach and is designed to reduce serious and organised crime and the harm it causes in communities. This brings together the public, private and voluntary sectors and puts the community at the centre of the response. It ensures a unified and joint approach to make the community safer.

CLEAR – targeted activity and crime disruption.
HOLD – stabilising the area to stop criminals moving in to fill the void through partner interventions and continued enforcement.
BUILD – partner and community-driven action to address the causes of criminality and prevent it from happening again.

Clear, Hold, Build projects have been running across the country and initiatives have been shown to reduce the prevalence of organised crime groups; reduce crime and violence, improve partnership work and community relationships and also reduce anti-social behaviour (ASB).

The project is being run jointly by police and partners. Suffolk Constabulary and Ipswich Borough Council are jointly leading the tactic, supported by other key agencies.
Officers have been involved in a wide range of activities in the area since March. Between March and July there were 90 arrests, with 18 of those charged. In total eight warrants were executed, while officers conducted 31 stop searches. Results so far include three out of court resolutions, seven court convictions, with three addresses closed with notices for 24-48 hours to safeguard occupants and the community. Eight Traffic Offence Reports were handed out and 16 vehicles were seized.
There were 36 premises visits alongside other agencies, with 18 home invasion safeguarding checks, commonly described as cuckooing. This is a practice where people take over a person’s home and use the property to facilitate exploitation, for example using the home as a base to deal drugs from.Other highlights include £200,000 worth of cocaine being seized at one location, two cannabis factories being located and dismantled and weapons including crossbows and knives being seized. Three brothels were also identified, with females safeguarded and brothel managers arrested.

Much of the work is aimed at continued future improvement. With this in mind, there have been a number of engagements with the community and partners in the area, including the Maple Park Sports Project, Let’s Clean Together, ASB Awareness Week, Future Female Society, school inputs and the Suffolk Ethnic Police Association community event to name just a few.

Partnership working has included Ipswich Borough Council’s ASB and environmental health teams, Trading Standards, Immigration and HM Revenue & Customs.
Ipswich Borough Council has been working alongside Suffolk Constabulary as part of this.
This has included the securing of £43,500 of funding from the Serious Violence Duty.
Funds have been used to increase CCTV coverage in the project area, while the council and police are now using a joint system to aid information sharing.
Working in collaboration as a key partner, the council’s focus has included parking enforcement, including cars being repaired on the road, as well as littering issues within Maple Park.
Officers from the ASB, Environmental Health, Licencing, Private Sector Housing and Waste teams have been mobilised to support the programme, bringing their specialisms and various powers of enforcement within the Clear phase and in the planning for Hold and Build.
The council’s Community Participation team will play a role in engaging community groups and individuals and designing further engagement opportunities in partnership with police colleagues.

John Cook, Ipswich Borough Council portfolio holder for Communities and Sport endorsed the programme, saying: “Ipswich is a place where everyone should feel safe and welcome. A town that is a welcoming place for people of different cultures and religions. A town with a sense of community resilience and cohesion. Clear, Hold, Build aims to make this a reality in this part of our town.
“The council and police will work together with resident groups, local businesses and other community stakeholders to make sure that every phase of the initiative not only addresses the criminal activity but also ensures that long-term the area is vibrant, safe, and attractive both in the daytime and at night. We look forward to working with residents and community organisations to make a real and positive difference.”

There are currently two other Clear, Hold, Build projects taking place in Suffolk, Future Felixstowe and Newmarket Together.
You can find out more about Clear, Hold, Build and the different projects taking place in Suffolk by visiting: Clear, Hold, Build | Suffolk Constabulary

“A stable and consistently high performing police force”, that’s the message from Deputy Chief Constable Rob Jones as the latest crime figures released by the Office of National Statistics show Suffolk remains in the top three counties in England and Wales where people are least likely to be victims of crime.
Suffolk Police and Crime Commissioner Tim Passmore said: “It’s great news to hear Suffolk remains one of the safest places in the country in which to live, work, travel and invest.
“Suffolk is a good force, but it is a small force covering a huge geographic area and is also one of the lowest-funded forces in the country. To be ranked third for the lowest levels of recorded crime in England and Wales for four consecutive quarters is a tremendous achievement and I’d like to thank officers, staff and volunteers for their unstinting commitment to maintain this favourable position.
“The decrease of some crime types is very encouraging but it is important not to be complacent. We are well aware the data does not show the whole story because too much crime goes unreported which is why we need everyone to report the crime when it occurs. The stats show we need to do more to reduce levels of sexual offences in the county, along with shoplifting and domestic burglary and I will be monitoring this through my accountability and performance meetings where I discuss performance with the Chief Constable.”
“Suffolk Constabulary continues to punch well above its weight in the national arena and we should all be pleased and reassured by this.”
The total recorded crime covering the 12 months to the end of March 2025 show that there were 57.4 crimes per 1000 people, a decrease of 3.1% compared to the previous 12 months. The national year on year decrease for England was 1.7%.
Knife crime saw a drop in offences recorded to -17.2%, following on from the 20% drop in the previous quarterly figures.
The figures saw drops in other various crime types including public order, stalking/harassment, theft from person, robbery, criminal damage, violent crime, drug offences and possession of weapons.
Based on the ONS figures, Suffolk Constabulary remains ranked third for the lowest levels of recorded crime in the country for the fourth consecutive quarter. During 2019 – 20 Suffolk was in 13th position in terms of its reported crime levels.
The constabulary continues to deliver a number of different activities and initiatives targeting knife possession, serious violence and other criminality where knife crime is often associated including educational inputs, weeks of actions and operations, knife amnesty bins and work to tackle anti-social behaviour, gangs and violence.
Deputy Chief Constable Rob Jones said: “We remain an organisation that puts the victim first, and with that in mind I fully accept these figures will mean little if you have been the victim of a crime. We remain focused on providing you with a high standard of support and that must always be a priority.
“It’s also, crucially, about how we engage with victims and witnesses – what we say, what we do and how we respond to people in need and how suspects are treated.
“However, for the fourth consecutive quarter Suffolk has the third lowest recorded crime figures demonstrating we are a force that is a stable and high performing organisation. I hope people can feel encouraged that these results demonstrate just how hard we are all working to keep people of Suffolk safe and to solve crime and catch criminals.”
“Crime statistics don’t give the full picture of a local policing service. That said, I am very confident that our neighbourhood policing model introduced in December 2023 has strengthened the relationships we have in our towns and villages. Community officers are strongly embedded in the area you live, while visible patrols and working closely with our partners and communities can and does tackling antisocial behaviour and crime. It’s all about being accessible and responsive, because we know how important it is for you to see the positive impact of local policing.”
The figures did see rises in recorded crimes for shoplifting (+10.3%), vehicle offences (+8.3%), domestic burglary (4.9%) and sexual offences (3.7%).
DCC Jones added: “We remain mindful of the detrimental impact shoplifting has as it can ultimately threaten the future of the business affected.
“Following the introduction of our Retail Crime Action Plan we have seen an increase in reporting particularly from larger retail outlets, some of which have made significant changes to their reporting policies and as such an increase overall has been expected.
“We continue to work to tackle shoplifting using preventative powers such the Anti-Social Behaviour Act to tackle persistent offenders, use of Community Protection Notices and Criminal Behaviour Orders. Our Design Out Crime Officers also provide crime prevention advice to many of the shops and business networks in our town centres regarding what they can do to reduce theft and burglary.
“In terms of vehicle crime, our local police teams monitor figures closely to help decide how best to use our resource and will take action if they see a spike in an area. This may involve proactive crime prevention awareness, extra patrol or conducting plain clothes activity.”
Plenty of crime prevention advice can be found on our website. Keeping vehicles safe | Crime prevention | Suffolk Constabulary
DCC Jones added: “Burglary is an extremely distressing and instrusive crime so, again, we keep a very close eye on figures. Our focus remains on the initial response including gathering forensics, house to house enquiries and searching through CCTV.
“In recent years Suffolk has seen a decline in the amount of residential burglaries – in 2021/22 there were 1.8 per 1000, whilst in 2024/25 it had dropped to 1.5 per 1000. It is also important to state Suffolk have consistently met the target of attending 100% of residential burglaries since September 2024, demonstrating our understanding of how serious we take this crime and the impact it has on victims.”
“Residential burglaries in the county are subject to review to maximise the recovery of crucial physical evidence. Any evidence recovered, particularly fingerprints or DNA, is treated as urgent with results being made available to investigators as soon as possible.”

Suffolk’s national ranking for lowest levels of recorded crime:
March 2024 – March 2025 – 3rd
Dec 2023 – Dec 2024 – 3rd
Sept 2023 – Sept 2024 – 3rd
June 2023 – June 2024 – 3rd
March 2023 – March 2024 – 4th
Dec 2022 – Dec 2023 – 4th
Sept 2022 – Sept 2023 – 5th
June 2022 – June 2023 – 6th
Dec 2019 – Dec 2020 – 13th