Crime figures released today show violent crime in North Yorkshire is on the increase - though crime overall is falling.

The figures for the county are broadly in line with national figures which show a worrying increase in violence - and mean there is more chance of becoming a victim of violent crime in the UK than in the USA.

Two sets of national crime figures were published by the Home Office today, one compiled by the police and the second set the result of the bi-annual British Crime Survey (BCS).

The Home Office acknowledges many offences are not reported to police and the BCS provides a measure of unrecorded crime against individuals.

Police crime figures for North Yorkshire, which were released in May, revealed the overall crime rate in the county had fallen by 6.2 per cent, which means 3,342 fewer crimes were committed compared with the previous year.

Burglary rates have fallen by almost ten per cent and there has been a 7.5 per cent reduction in car crime.

But violent crime has risen by almost six per cent and robbery figures also show a slight rise of just over half a per cent.

Commenting on today's Home Office figures, York Labour MP Hugh Bayley stressed that recorded crime was 20,281 offences in North Yorkshire in 1979 - when the last Labour Government was in power - less than half of what is now.

"Under the Tories crime in North Yorkshire more than doubled," he said.

"Labour's policies have been tough on crime and the causes of crime.

"They are creating the right environment for the police to deter crime and catch criminals - there must be no let-up.

"We need further action to combat violent crime, especially domestic violence and drink-induced offences."

But John Greenway, MP for Ryedale and Tory spokesman on home affairs, said the crime rate had been falling for the last four years.

"These falls are a clear vindication of the policies of the last government," he said.

"There is a very real danger that this trend will be reversed as a consequence of what this Government is doing with early release of prisoners and more and more pressure on police numbers."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.