Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, is calling for crime statistics relating to incidents that happen in prisons in the Featherstone and Brinsford area to be separated from crime statistics that represent the village as a whole.
Gavin has been contacted by a number of constituents who share the concerns of Featherstone and Brinsford Parish Council that crimes and incidences which take place in the prisons in the area can be excluded from the local statistics for Featherstone & Brinsford. At present, crime statistics provided by Staffordshire Police for the Parish include incidents at the prisons which have an impact on premiums for household insurance.
South Staffordshire has the largest prison population in the country, with over 3,000 inmates in HMP Featherstone, Oakwood and HMYOI Brinsford. As all the prisons are located in Featherstone and Brinsford, the crime figures for the area are distorted, with crimes committed by prisoners being included in the statistics
Gavin has called on the Minister responsible for policing and also the Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner to look into separating the crime statistics so they would not impact the home insurance premiums of Featherstone and Brinsford residents.
When discussing the distorted statistics Gavin said: “I have been contacted by a number of Featherstone and Brinsford residents who are growing increasingly worried about the rising number of crimes being reported as having happened in the area, when in fact they include incidents that have taken place in the prisons.
“As a result of the distortion, it seems that there is almost a permanent crime wave happening within these two villages which is both inaccurate and has a negative impact on people having to pay much higher household insurance premiums.
“I have asked the Policing Minister and the PCC for Staffordshire to look into this to see if anything can be done to separate the figures so that insurance companies cannot take advantage of local residents.”