'Positive news' as sharp fall in crime including violence revealed in region

CRIME is falling sharply in Yorkshire, according to figures which show police have seen a significant drop in robberies, violent attacks and vehicle offences.

Almost 450,000 offences were reported to the region's four forces during 2009 – a nine per cent drop on the previous year.

South Yorkshire Police led the way with a 12 per cent drop. North Yorkshire Police and West Yorkshire Police both recorded declines of nine per cent, while Humberside Police saw offences fall by eight per cent.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

All four forces fared better than the average for England and Wales, where crime fell by seven per cent overall.

South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes said: "These figures are great news for everyone in South Yorkshire, but the most important thing to us is that people feel safe and are confident that we are dealing with the issues that matter most in their area."

Across the region, the number of robberies fell by 12 per cent, burglaries declined by six per cent, and offences against vehicles fell by 19 per cent.

But Humberside Police recorded a 16 per cent increase in sex offences and, although the force saw a slight fall in violent crime, the number of assaults which resulted in injury rose by seven per cent.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

West Yorkshire Police were called to investigate a three per cent rise in fraud and forgery cases, while North Yorkshire Police saw a slight increase in the number of violent attacks which caused injury.

The statistics were released by the Home Office yesterday along with the latest edition of the British Crime Survey (BCS), which uses data obtained from tens of thousands of interviews to gauge how people feel about crime.

The BCS, which supported the police recording figures, found that only 7.3 per cent of people interviewed in North Yorkshire believed that anti-social behaviour was at a high level – the lowest rate in England.

North Yorkshire Police Assistant Chief Constable Tim Madgwick said: "The performance of the force in terms of reducing crime and tackling anti-social behaviour continues to be excellent.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Our safer neighbourhood teams work extremely hard together with councils and community safety partnerships to achieve these results. We will take decisive action when faced with persistent criminals and anti-social behaviour."

National BCS results showed fewer people complained about abandoned cars, rowdy drunks, drug dealing, gangs of youths, litter and vandalism, but noisy neighbour problems rose slightly.

The proportion of interviewees confident that police and others in the criminal justice system are dealing with crime issues rose from 47 per cent to 51 per cent.

Warwickshire Police chief constable Keith Bristow, who has national responsibilities for managing crime, said: "These overall results are positive."