ALMOST half of the crimes recorded by Dyfed-Powys Police in Carmarthenshire in the past year were violent offences.

In total, 14,711 crimes were reported to Dyfed-Powys Police in the county in the year ending June 2023, according to data released by the Home Office.

6,979 of these crimes reported to the police were recorded as ‘violence against the person’. This equates to 47.44 per cent of all the crimes recorded in Carmarthenshire during this period.

Of these, 3,258 were recorded as stalking and harassment offences, 2,516 were classed as violence without injury, and 1,196 were violence with injury.

The force recorded four homicides, and five deaths or serious injuries caused by driving during that 12-month period.

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A total of 2,453 theft offences were recorded, while public order offences (1,999) and criminal damage and arson (1,535) were the next most common types of crime reported.

Shoplifting was the most common named theft offence – with 758 crimes recorded during this 12-month period – followed by burglary (397).

The total number of crimes recorded fell by eight per cent when compared to the number of crimes recorded in the 12 months ending June 2022 (16,016).

Residential burglaries dropped by 20 per cent from 343 to 273, while stalking and harassment crimes fell by 18 per cent from 3,996 in the 12 months ending June 2022.

The year also saw the number of violence with injury and criminal damage offences recorded fall by 14 and 12 per cent respectively.

Despite the county-wide fall in crime, drug offences rose by 29 per cent from 635 to 816 in the latest figures.

Offences involving the possession of weapons also rose from 70 to 80 – a 14 per cent increase, while shoplifting rose 11 per cent from 680 recorded incidents.