Sussex crime rate drops

End of year statistics show that:

* total recorded crime was down by 9.5% compared with 2006 (from 135,018 to 122,211 offences);

* burglary from people's homes was down 15% (4,800 to 4,080);

* robberies were down 10.2% from 1,030 to 925; and

* recorded violent crime was down 8.6%, from 30,927 to 28,270.

The only area which bucked the trend was drugs possession offences, but this increase is more likely to reflect levels of police activity in Sussex rather than changes in the drugs market.

Meanwhile crime detections in Sussex are running at their highest levels since current recording methods were introduced. The percentage of crimes being detected (the so-called 'sanction detection' rate) rose to 31.6% in 2007.

And surveys of victims showed that their levels of satisfaction with the service received from Sussex Police are running at around 80% - 80.9% in the year to November 2007, compared with 79.5% a year earlier.

Chief Constable Martin Richards said: "There is more to policing than statistics, and we face many challenges in the months ahead, but these figures provide us with an excellent starting point. They reflect a Force that is in good shape but, more importantly, communities that are showing an increasing confidence in working with us to deal with problems of crime and anti social behaviour and keep Sussex safe."

Police Authority chairman Lionel Barnard said: "These figures have to be good news for Sussex. They are a tribute to the success of neighbourhood policing and I congratulate the Force on what has been achieved. We must now go on working together, not just to reduce crime, but to reduce people's fear of crime."

Latest Home Office statistics cover the period July to September 2007.

In those three months of 2006, overall recorded crime in Sussex was down by 12%, violence against the person, was down 11%; burglary down 19% and robbery, down 10%.

Provisional statistics showing a 4% increase in firearms offences across England and Wales in the year to the end of September 2007 are not reflected in Sussex, where there was a 10% decrease - from 200 to 180 offences.