Overall crime in Rotherham down 42 per cent in last year

South Yorkshire Police recorded 416 offences between October- December 2019, which had dropped to 240 by December 2020 – lower than the force’s average.

A report to South Yorkshire’s police and crime commissioner, Dr Alan Billings put the reduction down to Covid-19 and “targeted interventions”.

The report adds that the criminal investigation department (CID) played a part in reducing the number of crimes committed, including, identifying hotspots, days of action to arrest prolific suspects, intelligence gathering and cross-departmental working.

“Several initiatives have supported this drive including Operation Shield;using Smart Water technology to target harden locations, crime preventionthrough community groups and social media and targeted activity through covert and overt patrols, intelligence gathering and disruption,” adds the report.

Commercial burglaries dropped by 54 percent during the same time, and there was also a 26 per cent reduction in the number of personal robberies.

Also down was theft of or from motor vehicles, which reduced by 22 percent.