The Home Office annual report on crime shows the level of recorded crime in North Yorkshire is the joint lowest in the whole of England.

North Yorkshire’s figure of 64 recorded crimes per 1,000 population was matched only by Surrey out of England’s 39 forces. In England and Wales only Dyfed Powys had a lower rate.

The report also highlights the British Crime Survey which interviews thousands of victims of crime and is regarded as a better reflection of the true extent of household and personal crime because it includes crimes that are not reported to the police and crimes which are not recorded by them.

Again North Yorkshire does well with the joint lowest level of household crime anywhere in England and Wales and third lowest for personal crime.

In many areas the Home Office report highlights both levels of crime and fear of crime in North Yorkshire are significantly lower than in other parts of the country. This includes burglary, vehicle crime, robbery and violence.

The report also confirms that in the year ending March 2008 the force recorded a fall of 8% in total crime with decreases in every category except sex offences, which remained unchanged, and drug offences where an increase is generally seen as evidence of police targeting dealers.

Chief Constable Grahame Maxwell said: “As Chief Constable I am extremely proud of these results but the credit goes to the police officers on the street, local authorities and other partners who have worked with us and the public who have supported us.

“The force has undergone an enormous amount of change in the past year, there has been upheaval but it is a credit to the professionalism of staff and officers that they have not let this distract them from the core duty of protecting the public from crime.”

Mr Maxwell said he was confident the force could achieve even better results next year.

“In policing you can never be complacent and you can never stand still. Over the next few months the public will see a number of new ideas we have for tackling crime “Safer Neighbourhoods has put us at the heart of our communities and this can only help reduce the number of victims of crime even further.”

 Bullet Points from report:

· In 2007-08 North Yorkshire police recorded 50,265 offences., with a sanctioned detection rate of 33% (a 5 percentage point increase on the previous year). The average sanctioned detection rate for all forces in England and Wales was 28%.

· For recorded crime North Yorkshire had 64 crimes per 1,000 population. This is joint 2nd in England and Wales, making the County of North Yorkshire and the City of York one of the safest places to live in the country.

· North Yorkshire Police had the highest sanctioned detection rate out of all the forces in England and Wales for Violence Against the Person Offences.

· In 2007-08 there were 66 offences involving a knife in the county of North Yorkshire and the City of York. This places NYP 3rd lowest out of all the forces in England and Wales in relation to knife crime.

· The British Crime Survey in 2007-8 indicates that in relation to household crime  11% of the residents of North Yorkshire were a victim of crime on one or more occasions (joint lowest victimisation rate along with three other forces) . The average rate for England and Wales was 17%. In terms of personal crime NYP is joint 3rd in England and Wales, with a 3% victimisation rate (average 6%).

· The British Crime Survey revealed that 10% of those surveyed perceived  Anti Social behaviour to be a problem. This is joint 4th lowest in England and Wales (average 16%).