Violence Rockets By 40% In Inverness

The number of assaults in Inverness has jumped by 40 per cent in the past year, it emerged this week. The news follows a spate of violent crimes reported in the area over the Easter break.

Inverness Area Command figures showed 212 “crimes of violence” — including both serious and petty assaults — were reported between 1st April, 2006 and 31st March, 2007, in contrast to 150 the year before.

“In terms of violent crime it is certainly a disappointing increase in recent times, but it will be one of our main policing priorities to tackle,” Superintendent David O’Connor said.

“A lot of the crimes of violence often come from binge drinking, public drinking and the like. In terms of public drinking, binge drinking and drunkenness, these are society problems.”

The superintendent said he believed society needed to “take a look at itself” in terms of the binge drinking culture and police could not work in isolation.

“There has to be a collective responsibility for tackling these types of problems and safety concerns in our communities,” he added.

Included in the crime statistics at Easter were an alleged assault at the Caledonian Bar in Nairn on Monday when a man had to be taken to Raigmore Hospital for treatment to a head injury. On the same day, another man received minor injuries when he was attacked with a blunt instrument in Carnarc Crescent, Inverness, at around 9.30pm.

Four men also appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court on Monday in connection with an alleged assault in South Kessock with one charged with attempted murder and assault to severe injury.

“Obviously it is a concern for us, as it is for anyone living in a community where there is such a rise in figures,” said David Sinclair of Victim Support Scotland. “Everyone hopes to see reductions in such figures and not increases.”

He explained anyone who was a victim of assault was automatically referred by Inverness police to the group which provided a range of services to people affected by crime.

Superintendent O’Connor said, of the 212 assaults reported last year, 187 were detected — around 88 per cent — which was praised by Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP Danny Alexander, who witnessed problems when he accompanied a team of officers on a Friday night shift in Inverness city centre in January.

“Alcohol and drug-related crime, especially violent crime, are significant problems in our city and these figures confirm a very worrying trend,” the Liberal Democrat MP said.

Police were doing a very good job, he said, with limited resources to control the situation. “But in a sense, what is needed is more emphasis on tackling the causes of these crimes and if we don’t do that then these trends unfortunately will continue,” he added.

Statistics for serious assaults across the Highland area more than trebled in the last eight years, with 51 recorded for 1996 to 1997 and 228 for 2005 to 2006 — a rise of 177, just over 347 per cent.

The Highland figures were highlighted by SNP candidate for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Fergus Ewing who made them part of his election campaign, “These statistics show a massive increase in serious assaults since 1997,” he said.

Inverness has seen several positive initiatives like “Pubwatch” and “Best Bar None” aimed at tackling such crime and superintendent O’Connor believes that there was a “greater confidence” in policing in the city centre as a result.

“Clearly the increase in violent crime is an area of policing which is recognised as being a priority,” he said.

“But we need to work together with other agencies and, in particular, the licensed trade association, licensees, the licensing board and the local authority to target and tackle violent crime, particularly in the city centre.

“Inverness is one of the most rapidly-expanding cities in the country and we know people are converging on the city centre to go to the pubs and clubs and that may well be a contributory factor in the increase in violent crime.”