Cumbria police boss 'pleased' with drug crime increase

Peter McCall said a rise in offences meant police were catching more drug criminals

Cumbria's police commissioner said he was "quite pleased" with a near 19% rise in drug-related crimes.

Peter McCall, Cumbria's Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said it looked like "bad news" but actually it meant officers were "catching more people".

According to his annual report, there were 1,152 drug offences between April 2022 and March 2023 compared to 971 the previous year.

Mr McCall said police were "checking more people with drugs".

Presenting his annual report to the Police, Fire and Crime Panel in Kendal, Mr McCall said drug offences had risen 18.6%, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

"That sounds like bad news, but I am quite pleased with that because we are catching more people," he said.

The report also showed that in its fourth year, the Cyber and Digital Crime Unit had investigated 104 offences, made 60 arrests, prosecuted 40 criminals for 183 offences and safeguarded 130 children.

It said antisocial behaviour dropped to 4,922 from 6,445 cases and arson and criminal damage fell to 4,998 from 5,023.

Incidents of violence increased from 16,811 to 16,912, sexual offences rose from 1,706 to 1,719 and public order offences from 4,656 to 4,703.

Robberies increased to 154 from 151, theft offences increased to 5,352 from 4,614, offences against a vehicle increased to 977 from 757 and overall crime increased by 4.7% to 38,826 from 37,084.

Mr McCall urged people to report crimes and information, adding: "If the cops don't know about it, how can they do anything about it?"