Ramsgate Town Council is asking for an urgent meeting with police and district council chiefs to discuss the level of crime in the town.
Town councillors say they have a long-standing concern over the level of crime that has been heightened by two particularly serious assaults last month.
Councillors say that despite the best efforts of the individual police officers within Thanet they can see little improvement month-on-month that would lift Ramsgate from being the fifth most dangerous medium-sized town in the UK and the second most dangerous in Kent, an accolade they say is totally unacceptable.
Chair of Ramsgate Town Council, Cllr Steve Albon, said: “There are so many people trying their hardest to make Ramsgate an enjoyable, safe and prosperous place to live, and I feel so disappointed for local residents that crime is such a prevalent part of the town’s identify at the moment.
“Local residents inform me that they don’t feel safe, and this is a totally unacceptable situation”
Ramsgate Town Council has requested an urgent multi-agenda meeting with the Police & Crime Commissioner, the MP, the Chief Constable, the Chief Inspector and the Leader and Chief Executive at Thanet District Council to discuss the concerns, specifically what is currently being done and what can be done to tackle the problem.
The Town Clerk is now awaiting responses and residents will be kept informed as the plan progresses. It is not yet confirmed if residents will be able to contribute during the meeting, if this is not the case, input from residents will be sought in advance of the meeting.
The overall crime rate in Ramsgate in 2021 was 146 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares poorly to Kent’s overall crime rate, coming in 40% higher than the Kent rate of 87 per 1,000 residents.
The crimerate website says the most common crimes in Ramsgate are violence and sexual offences, with 3,273 offences during 2021, giving a crime rate of 78. This is 11% higher than 2020’s figure of 2,920 offences and a difference of 8.42 from 2020’s crime rate of 70.
Ramsgate’s least common crime is theft from the person, with 29 offences recorded in 2021, a decrease of 24% from 2020’s figure of 36 crimes.
