CRIME has continued to fall in Penarth after the “pre-Christmas boom”.

The amount of crimes committed in the town fell to 44 in February, compared to 45 in January.

It comes after 79 crimes were committed in November and 65 in December.

Sergeant Ioan Jones, speaking during a Penarth Town Council meeting on Tuesday, said that it had been a “good month” for local police, with the number of burglaries falling from six to three and drugs offences down from four to two.

He added that criminal damage increased from eight to nine, other offence fell from one to zero, other theft increased from eight to 12, sexual offences increased from two to four, theft from motor vehicles fell from one to two, theft of motor vehicles fell from two to one and violence against the person rose from 11 to 12.

Councillor Martin Turner said there was a “clear reduction after the pre-Christmas boom” and asked whether they should expect crime figures to continue to fall.

Sergeant Jones said they were expecting an increase in anti-social behaviour during the Easter period, but they had system in place to deal with that.

Cllr Turner (Plymouth) added: “The statistics are good in showing crime incidents in Penarth are remarkably low for the size of the population. For administration it would be more helpful if we could see last year’s February figures and compare them to this year.”

Councillor Mark Wilson (Stanwell) said there were more and more licensed premises in Penarth, with more applications coming through in the next few months, and asked what impact there had been on the resources of the police.

“Obviously it’s a concern when there are only so many police around in Penarth,” he said.

“We need to think of a strategy to deal with this for incidents that do occur.”

Sergeant Jones said they already had an operation in place and that police were on duty until 3am in the town. He added that they had also been liaising with the recently opened Club 220, who were trying to attract over 21’s and a different clientele to what was there previously.

Councillor Lis Burnett also praised the work of local St Augustine’s PCSO Rhys Allen, who is set to start his training to become a police officer.

“We wish him well with his future efforts,” she said