Crime in Fife: crime up but streets safer says Fife’s police chief

Locally, recorded incidents went up by 8% while national rates took a downturn.

Domestic abuse in the region increased by 39% last year alongside sexual crimes, indecent photos of children which jumped by 53%, and crimes of dishonesty and fraud.

On paper it’s a black and white picture of rising crime, but Fife’s current Divisional Commander, Chief Superintendent Derek McEwan, said the numbers are only half of the story.

“The streets are perhaps a lot safer than they used to be but if you just concentrate on the crime figures you could easily form a perception that perhaps they’re not,” he said.

Domestic abuse and sexual crimes

Reported incidents of domestic abuse and sexual crimes have increased year on year since 2018, according to Fife crime statistics.

However, Chief Superintendent McEwan believes the numbers reflect a higher percentage of victims coming forward rather than an increase of crime.

“[Fife Police has] one of the highest detection rates in Scotland for both domestic and sexual offending,” he said. “We’re all aware that domestic abuse and sexual offending exists within our communities so I am heartened at times when we do have a higher level of reporting.

The Fife division has one of the largest public protection units in Scotland, and the team takes a proactive approach to these crimes.

“We go out and approach all ex partners of a suspect that we can identify. This method tends to generate a significant number of charges and ultimately gets significant jail sentences on the back of it,” Chief McEwan explained.

“You tend to find that in serial domestic abusers there’s very similar offending towards multiple partners. If we can find multiple partners you often find two or more will come forward and tell us they also suffered significant sexual or domestic abuse. As a result we’re able to put a strong case to the courts.”

The culture around these crimes has changed as well.

In 1999, Chief McEwan began working in the Criminal Investigation Department. In the five years he worked at CID, he said only two rapes were ever reported.

Over the course of this weekend alone, Police in Fife are engaging with approximately five people who have come forward to report a sexual assault.

“Back in 1999, let’s be honest, these crimes were happening. There’s a lot of offending now that gets reported to us which was all happening years ago [but was never reported to Police].

He continued: “I’m heartened because I really think even if we’re unable to prove a criminal case, I know that those women are being signposted to support services that they need.”

“I hope the end result is that victims have some real confidence in policing; that we’ve taken on board what they’ve said; we’ve believed them; we’ve investigated and ultimately, hopefully we’ll bring a perpetrator to justice.”

Fighting fraud

Fraud has been earmarked as a priority for Police Scotland as cases have increased around the country. In Fife, reports have jumped by more than 136% since 2018.

Frauds are no longer someone at your front door, Chief McEwan said – the threat comes online attempts to gain access to funds.

Vulnerable people are targeted by criminal gangs online from outside of the UK. Chief McEwan said these crimes are difficult because the minute an offence originates from outside the UK, the ability to investigate changes.

“We’re suddenly dealing with internet and telephone providers who are based throughout the world and some countries are not as engaging with authorities and helping identify where IP addresses may come from, for example,” he said.

He expects detection rates to remain low in the immediate future, but the main priority locally is to get support to victims.

“You often find that a lot of victims of fraud are some of the most vulnerable in communities,” he said.

“We do know that some of these gangs – if they are successful in perpetrating a fraud against an individual – highlight that individual to other criminal gangs because they recognise it as an individual who in their eyes has a weakness. It’s actually a vulnerability that they’re preying upon.”