Crime in Northumbria has continued to fall across the board in the past year, with the latest figures also showing a  fall of more than 25% in incidents of youth disorder.
Northumbria Police’s annual figures reveal yet another drop in total crime – down to 105,458 for 2008/09 compared to 109,213 the previous year, a 3.4% reduction. In real terms this means almost 4,000 less victims of crime across the region.
Incidents of youth anti-social behaviour, which the public have told us is a top priority, have been slashed by more than a quarter, down to 47,228 this year compared to 63,044 the previous year.
In the past year burglary, criminal damage and vehicle crime have all fallen while serious acquisitive crime, the focus of a Northumbria Police campaign over the festive period, also dropped by more than 1,000 offences or 6.6%.
Violent crime and robberies are both down while drug crime rose slightly, partly due to a number of operations targeting dealers over the past year.
The latest available figures show the number of people “very or completely satisfied” with their contact with Northumbria Police also rose slightly to 70%, while even more criminals were caught than ever before. The detection rate for crime now stands at an all time high.
“The fact we’ve been able to keep crime on a downward spiral in the face of a worldwide economic crisis has been a great achievement for the force,” said Chief Constable Mike Craik.
“As ever this was a real team effort. This year on year reduction would not be possible without the dedication of all Northumbria Police employees, Northumbria Police Authority, whose help and support has provided us with the resources to do the job, our partners across the region and most importantly, the people in our communities who continue to back their local police force.
“We pledged we would listen to local people and respond to their needs. They told us that anti-social behaviour, particularly among young people, was a priority. That is why we focused our efforts and have reduced the number of youth related disorder incidents by almost 16,000 last year. Non-youth related anti-social behaviour also fell by nearly 12,000 incidents.
“While pleased that our work has helped bring yet another overall reduction in crime for our communities we are not complacent and we know we still have a lot of work to do, particularly in the current global recession.
“With the support of our partners and the communities we serve we will continue this work to bring offenders to justice and make our neighbourhoods even safer.”
From Cllr Mick Henry, chair of Northumbria Police Authority: “Northumbria Police have made some real strides forward in the past few years and these latest figures will be welcomed by all the Police Authority members. Crime figures continue to fall and this is due to the commitment and hard work of one of the best police forces in the country. We will continue to support the force and make sure they have all the tools they need to fight crime and make Northumbria a safer place for all residents. We have been listening closely to what people want from the police and we’ll be working even harder in the coming months to respond to the local needs across the whole of Northumbria in a bid to reduce crime, and particularly the fear of crime even further. Building trust and confidence is vital to our operations and we’ll be working even harder on this in the coming months.”
Summary of crime figures: