May 1, 2022 8.00 am This story is over 25 months old

The two places blamed for a lot of the crime in Stamford

Its location leads to problems other towns don’t have
Stamford is a popular tourist destination for miles around | Photo: Discover Rutland

Stamford’s unique geography contributes to much of the crime in the town, a senior police officer has revealed.

Chief Inspector Phil Vickers told South Kesteven District Council about some of the issues facing the borough.

While he says Stamford is one of the safest places in South Kesteven, he highlighted factors which are behind many of the problems Lincolnshire Police sees in the town.

“There is a huge impact on Stamford from from two factors. The first one is the A1 and the second one is the proximity to to Peterborough,” Chief Inspector Vickers told the Rural and Communities scrutiny committee.

“Historically, we see offenders from all over the country who use the A1 will come off at Stanford and will cause a short crime series, typically overnight.

“They will go into  a particular housing estate or a single street, and cause a number of offences, whether that be theft, theft of a motor vehicle, burglary, and sometimes offences against commercial premises. But that’s quite a unique characteristic for Stamford that isn’t quite the same for Bourne or for the Deepings.”

The A1’s proximity to Stamford can lead to overnight crime sprees | Photo: R.S. Mortiss

The chief inspector also warned drug linked-crime in Peterborough tended to spill out into South Kesteven.

“We see offenders who are committing crime in order to fund their drug habit. Their offending spreads out into Bourne and Deepings, more than ever for Stamford. We work closely with Cambridgeshire Police to understand who they are, but we do see that element of criminality coming out there,” he said.

“As we’ve come out of the pandemic restrictions, we’re seeing more crime and antisocial behaviour that is around licensed premises. And the offenders in Stamford are predominantly coming from Peterborough and surrounding areas.”

He added that although Lincolnshire Police are one of the lowest funded forces in the country, their performance tends to be in the top half of national tables.

More PCSOs have recently been recruited for South Kesteven and are set to start work in October.