Rape and sexual offences rise in Plymouth as police boss admits 'more needs to be done'

• Watch Sam Blackledge's report

Reports of rape, sexual offences and stalking and harassment are all rising across Devon and Cornwall.

An ITV West Country investigation has found there have been more recorded offences in all three categories this year than last year, despite a drop in overall crime.

Chief Superintendent Matt Longman, who leads Plymouth's policing team, said more needs to be done to help women and girls feel safer.

"There is no city in the world that has ever been free of crime, and Plymouth is not likely to be," he said.

"How safe is safe? When anybody is a vicim of crime, we want to do more to stop it."

Crime as a whole in Plymouth has fallen in the past 12 months - but reports of rape are up by 17 per cent; sexual offences up by 21 per cent; and stalking and harassment up by seven per cent.

It is the second year in a row the numbers have risen, and this trend is mirrored across the whole of the Devon and Cornwall Police area.

Ch Supt Longman said: "Sexual offences are too high for a city this size. With all the work that is going on it has started to drop a little bit in the last three months, but it doesn't stop there.

"We know there is a lot more than needs to be done because too many women and girls are feeling unsafe in our city because of the way some men behave."

The death of teenager Bobbi-Anne McLeod, who disappeared from a bus stop near her home last month, brought the debate into sharp focus. 

Conservative councillor Rebecca Smith, chair of Plymouth's new commission on violence against women and girls, which met for the first time last week, has promised to listen to concerns and report her findings by spring next year.

"It's a huge issue," she said. "Violence against women and girls is not just about adding more CCTV or street lights, although that is vital because that is a tangible way of making sure people feel safe.

"The piece on domestic violence could be a commission on its own, as could educating men and boys and changing the culture."

The Plymouth Labour Party wants the commission to reveal its findings sooner; opponents have accused them of playing politics.

Labour campaigner Charlotte Holloway said: "Thousands of women across Plymouth are rightly feeling worried and concerned about their safety, particularly over the Christmas period.

"It is not politicising an issue to ask for more action and more urgency. I respect the commission's aims but we need far more urgency."The commission will also look at issues such as drink spiking and needle spiking, along with conviction rates for rape and sexual assault and the problem of a shortage of taxi drivers in the city centre.