County crime rate is falling

3:42pm Friday 18th July 2008

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North Yorkshire had the joint lowest recorded level in crime in the whole of England last year.

Its figure of 64 recorded crimes per 1,000 population was matched only by Surrey out of England's 39 forces.

The figures were released in the newly-published Home Office annual report on crime, which covers the 12 months up to March 2008.

The report also highlights the British Crime Survey which interviews thousands of victims of crime and is regarded as a better reflection of the true extent of household and personal crime because it includes incidents that are not reported to the police.

Again North Yorkshire does well with the joint lowest level of household crime anywhere in England and Wales and third lowest for personal crime.

And levels of crime and fear of crime in North Yorkshire are significantly lower than in other parts of the country. This includes burglary, vehicle crime, robbery and violence.

The report also confirms that in the year ending March 2008 the force recorded a fall of eight per cent in total crime with decreases in every category except sex offences, which remained unchanged, and drug offences where an increase is generally seen as evidence of police targeting dealers.

Chief Constable Grahame Maxwell said: "I am extremely proud of these results but the credit goes to the police officers on the street, local authorities and other partners who have worked with us and the public who have supported us.

"The force has undergone an enormous amount of change in the past year, there has been upheaval but it is a credit to the professionalism of staff and officers that they have not let this distract them from the core duty of protecting the public from crime."

Mr Maxwell said he was confident the force could achieve even better results next year.

"In policing you can never be complacent and you can never stand still. Over the next few months the public will see a number of new ideas we have for tackling crime "Safer Neighbourhoods has put us at the heart of our communities and this can only help reduce the number of victims of crime even further," he added.