Police and Crime Commissioner Ron Hogg is hailing a 15 per cent reduction in reported crime as good news for victims.
Over 4,000 fewer people across County Durham and Darlington have fallen victim of crime following the significant drop in recorded offences in the last year.
Between April 1, 2012 and March 31 this year, 30,090 crimes were reported to police compared to 35,260 the previous year.
Victim-based crimes – violence against the person, sexual offences, stealing and criminal damage – reduced by 14 per cent, meaning there were 4,506 fewer victims.
Chief Constable Mike Barton said:
“Protecting the people in our neighbourhoods and tackling criminality in all its forms is at the heart of our business and what we strive to do every day. The work we do with our partner organisations and agencies is paying off and making our communities even safer. The fall in reported crime is good news all around, especially for victims, but we are never complacent and our communities can be confident our efforts to reduce crime even further will continue unabated.”
All major crime categories have seen significant falls: violent crime fell by 11 per cent in the last financial year from 4,955 to 4,390; sexual offences by 14 per cent from 426 to 368; house burglaries by 14 per cent from 1,651 to 1,417; criminal damage by 12 per cent from 7,762 to 6,811; drug offences by 13 per cent from 1,432 to 1,240.
Anti-social behaviour has reduced by 27 per cent from 41,985 reported incidents last year to 30,569.
There have been 290 hate crime incidents reported in the last year, 67 fewer than the previous year, a decrease of 19 per cent.
The force remains one of the best-performing in the country with low overall crime and a detection rate of 38 per cent.
Mr Hogg said:
“This is great news and these performance figures are extremely impressive. I hope that the residents of County Durham and Darlington are reassured to know that we are doing everything we can to keep them safe. We are committed to keeping crime low and these figures show that Durham Constabulary is continuously improving and addressing the needs of our communities.
We will continue to protect vulnerable people within our communities and seek to reduce the number of victims even further. It is for this reason that we protect the neighbourhood policing teams and will continue to do so despite future budget cuts. I would like to thank all officers and staff for their hard work in achieving these results never forgetting the massive part played by our communities and partners”
