VIOLENT crime has risen in the Vale of Glamorgan over the last year.

The Police Federation said officers across England and Wales were struggling to “deliver the basics”, and warned the benefits of promised new recruits would not be felt for some time.

South Wales recorded 3,124 incidents of violent crime in the Vale in the 12 months to June, according to the Office for National Statistics - an increase of 24 per cent compared to the previous year.

One of the main factors behind the increase was the increase in stalking and harassment, which rose by 51 per cent, from 806 incidents to 1,214.

Offences of violence with injury increased by 9 per cent and violence without injury by 13 per cent, reaching 985 and 920 respectively.

The total number of offences in the Vale of Glamorgan increased by 8 per cent, with police recording 8,555 crimes over the course of the year.

Chief Superintendent Alun Morgan for the Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend division said: “In line with other forces, we attribute much of the continued rise in figures to the change in recording methods, and a greater confidence in reporting crime.

“This fits with our determination to put the victim at the heart of everything we do, and our approach of actively encouraging people to come forward and report crimes.

“However, we recognise that there has been a genuine rise in some crime categories and we remain committed to working closely with a range of partner agencies, including those in the health, local government, education and the voluntary sectors, to prevent, detect and reduce crime.

“We continue to experience a rise in demand in both emergency 999 calls and non-emergency 101 calls; a large proportion not crime-related.

“This rise in calls, together with an increase in the number of crimes being reported means there is a growth in demand being placed on the force.

“We continue to maintain the quality of our response in increasingly difficult financial circumstances and are seeking to utilise technology to support our front-line officers in improving their capability and capacity to deal with an ever-more complex environment.

“We are focussing our operational activity and deployments where they are needed the most; particularly in response to an increasing tendency for some to carry knives and we are already seeing a drop in knife crime as a result of this.

“The Vale still remains one of the safest places to live, work and visit in the UK.”