CRIME in Colchester increased by nearly a fifth last year, new figures have revealed.

According to date released by the Office of National Statistics, there were a total of 18,838 offences recorded in the borough in the year ending September 2019, not including fraud.

That is a 17 per cent increase – the same as the Essex average – on the previous 12 months when there were 16,164 crimes reported.

Violent crime also spiked with a 28 per cent increase, however, much of that can be attributed to a 56 per cent increase in stalking which is now included in the category.

Sexual offences and robberies went up by 12 and 13 per cent respectively.

There was a total of 642 sex offences recorded and 192 raids.

The number of drug crimes recorded shot up by 69 per cent and there was a 19 per cent increase in possession of offensive weapons.

A decrease was recorded in non-residential burglaries, vehicle offences and theft from a person.

Tendring saw a 15 per cent increase in crime.

A spokesman for Essex Police insisted the area was safe.

“Fewer people are victims of violence with injury offences, robbery, theft, and burglary than the national average,” he said.

“In fact, we saw more than 1,000 fewer burglaries across Essex in the year to September 2019 than the year before.

“Anti-social behaviour has also fallen.

“Crime is going up across the country and Essex is no different which is why we continue to invest to better support victims, protect the vulnerable, tackle violence, and increase visibility.

“As well as introducing new town centre teams and expanding our rural engagement team, we’ve secured millions of pounds in extra funding to tackle and prevent street violence and knife crime.

“Through proactive police work, such as the responsible and proportionate use of stop and search, we’ve also seen drugs offences and possession of weapons offences rise.

“This represents the hard work policing that takes place across the county every day to tackle drug dealers and get weapons off our streets.”