CRIME in Southend has risen almost 25 per cent in a year with violent crime rising even faster.

A crime is being reported every 40 minutes with 13,000 incidents between January and November 2018, up 2,500 on the previous year.

Southend’s top cop believes working smarter and in partnership are the keys to solving the borough’s rising crime rate after dramatic rises including robbery and home burglaries.

A new petition has been set up to bring extra officers to Southend and it already has almost a thousand signatures.

Chief Insp Neil Pudney, district commander for Southend, said: “I understand the public has concerns around policing resource levels. The reality is that our numbers are increasing with new officers welcomed every month, not only in Southend but across the county.

“We continue to make best use of our resources by working in close partnership with other statutory agencies.

“Our community safety hub at Southend has a large number of staff from a variety of agencies co-located and working with police officers and PCSOs on mutually shared objectives.

“We have the new community safety team in place. It is about working smarter and continuing to develop those multi agency approaches to tackle issues affecting Southend.

“In addition to this Essex Police is making best use of new technology to improve our services. All our frontline officers have been issued with smart mobile devices which allows them to access live CCTV footage.

“Southend town centre was recently awarded Purple Flag status again by a team of independent assessors which recognises our town centre as offering a safe, welcoming and vibrant night time experience.

“We continue to tackle national issues such as knife crime alongside our partners through not only enforcement but also through early intervention and diversion programmes.”

The petition, at http://bit.ly/2Dvrrge, was set up by a group calling themselves Safe Southend. It states: “Southend has suffered greatly, with the local press reporting many residents too scared to go out at night or even venture into the high street. Knife crime has been a major problem which is often linked with gang related drug activity, with young people exploited, acting as drug transportation.” The group wants a stronger police presence.