'Vandalism is a despicable crime which can ruin the quality of life local residents enjoy and I am quite simply staggered that since 1997 the people of Suffolk have been blighted by over 134,000 acts of criminal damage.'

David Ruffley MP has today released new figures which reveal that there have been 134,278 instances of vandalism recorded by police in Suffolk since 1997.

The figures were released in answer to David's questioning of Alan Campbell MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office.

In 1997 there were 7,835 instances of vandalism recorded in Suffolk. In 2008/09, the latest year for which figures are available, this figure stood at 11,300.

David said:

'Vandalism is a despicable crime which can ruin the quality of life local residents enjoy and I am quite simply staggered that since 1997 the people of Suffolk have been blighted by over 134,000 acts of criminal damage.

'The Government will try to muddy the waters by saying that the way data was recorded changed but there is no hiding the fact that in 2008/09 there were 3,465 more acts of criminal damage recorded by Suffolk police than in 1997.

'We need to be clear that vandalism is a mindless act that will not be tolerated- it can bring down property prices, ruin businesses and be a constant source of stress to those living in the area.'