RECORDED crime in North Yorkshire has fallen by two per cent - bucking the national trend.

However, in North Yorkshire sex offences rose by 20 per cent in the last year (1,424 crimes in total), 'crimes against society', which included the possession and publication of extreme sexual images, had increased by 23 per cent (702 crimes in total), and public order offences rose by 10 per cent (1,407 crimes in total).

Once again, police said the increase in sexual offences was likely due to increased confidence of victims in reporting crimes, as well as work with partner agencies and dedicated facilities for victims of sexual assault.

Positively, burglary fell by 13 per cent (3,603 in total, down 537 on the previous year), drug offences fell by 12 per cent (down 223 to 1,575 in total), and vehicle offences were down 11 per cent (2,086 in total, 265 down on last year).

Deputy Chief Constable Lisa Winward said the force was proud of its work keeping North Yorkshire among the safest areas in the country.

She said: "The latest national crime statistics reflect our relentless determination to keep improving the service we deliver for residents and businesses, as well as for the many thousands of visitors who come here to experience our wonderful part of the world. There will be no let-up in our efforts to deter and detect criminality in our cities, towns and villages.

"With our now well-established ‘Proactive Policing’ approach, supported by the Road Crime Team, Roads Policing Group, the Firearms Support Unit and the Rural Taskforce, and underpinned by a network of fixed site and mobile Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras, we have the capability to target suspected criminals around the clock both within and across our force borders."

The number of people found in possession of weapons increased by 27 per cent (to 224, up by 48) - despite a dramatic reduction locally in stop and search - and figures showed the number of robberies increased by two per cent (155 in total, three more crimes), and shoplifting increased by one per cent (4,114 in total, up 35).

The figures were released on Thursday by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), and showed the number of recorded crimes had increased by 11 per cent across England, with a total of 36,683 crimes in North Yorkshire in the 12 months to the end of March, a crime rate of 45.3 per 1,000 of the population.

Nationally, the number of police officers is at its lowest since 1985. North Yorkshire Police are currently trying to achieve 1,400 frontline officers - roughly the same number the force had in 2012.