NORTH Yorkshire is bucking a trend which has seen violent crime rise across England and Wales.

The Government's annual crime statistics, published by the Home Office yesterday, showed a five per cent drop in both overall crime and violent crime in North Yorkshire last year.

There was also a six per cent drop in burglary, a one per cent drop in theft, and a six per cent decrease in criminal damage.

Chief Constable Della Cannings said: "When I was appointed Chief Constable, I expressed my determination to reduce crime in North Yorkshire. Thanks to the hard work of all our staff and the support of the Police Authority, this has been achieved for the second year in succession.I am particularly pleased to see, for the first time in recent years, that there has been a reduction in violent crime."

But the picture across the rest of Yorkshire is very different with violent crime soaring by nine per cent last year, and one in every ten offences committed across the whole of England and Wales in the last 12 months carried out in Yorkshire.

The figures for North Yorkshire are slightly different to those reported by the force and revealed in The Press earlier this year.

North Yorkshire Police spokesman Ron Johnson said that was because they were recorded slightly differently.

He said: "Violent crime is down, which is bucking the trend for us as well as the rest of the country."

The figures also showed a four per cent increase in vehicle crime.

But Mr Johnson said more recent figures showed the force was also turning the tide on that particular type of crime.

Between April 1 and June 30, there were 1,645 vehicle crimes in the county, a 14.5 per cent drop from 1,926 in the same period last year.

Mr Johnson added: "We acknowledged at the end of the last financial year that there was a problem with vehicle crime.

" It was the one area that gave us cause for concern.

"We put plans in place to target hotspots and offenders, and as a result, so far we have seen positive results."

How the figures add up

Figures from North Yorkshire Police for 2005-06 showed:

  • Overall crime fell by 4.1 per cent, the total of 59,086 reported crimes being 2,542 fewer than in 2004-05
  • Domestic burglary fell by 10.1 per cent to 2,626 from 2,921
  • Non-domestic burglary was down 2.6 per cent to 4,710 from 4,837
  • Vehicle crime rose by 4 per cent to 6,608 from 6,351
  • Robbery decreased by 26.2 per cent to 242 from 328.

Despite the fall in crime, the detection rate increased from 35.1 per cent to 35.2 per cent one of the best rates in the country.