DURING the last 12 months, the number of reported crimes within the town centre has shot up by 671 compared to the previous year, newly released figures have revealed.
Between the end of March last year and end of March this year, there were 1,656 offences compared to 985 the year before.
Town centre beat manager Pc Robin White said on the face of it the figures seemed like bad news but the large increase was down to a new crime recording policy which means every incident has to be recorded.
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