Police hail fall in crime

5:00pm Friday 18th July 2008

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CRIME fell in Wiltshire by one per cent over the past year, according to new figures released by the Home Office yesterday.

There were 44,587 crimes recorded in the county from April 2007 to March 2008, down from 45,098 over the same period the previous year.

Cases of violence against the person fell by six per cent, equating to 566 fewer victims, while robbery fell by the same amount, equating to 30 fewer victims. In the British Crime Survey, seven per cent of people had a high level of worry about being the victim of violent crime, compared to a national average of eight per cent.

There were 140 offences involving a knife or sharp implement used to threaten a person 52 of these cases were robbery. Meanwhile burglaries fell by four per cent, meaning 183 fewer were committed.

Assistant Chief Constable Julie Clayton said: "These figures show that in key areas such as violence against the person and robbery, we are seeing some impressive reductions when compared to forces elsewhere in the country, and we are already building on this record in the first few months of this year."