Crime has been slashed across Sussex. The latest government figures have revealed the number of crimes reported to police dropped by ten per cent in the past year.
And the trend continued with violent crime, sex offences, robbery, burglary, vehicle crime, theft, fraud and forgery and criminal damage all falling. Only the number of drug crimes rose.
Of all police forces in the south east of England, which in
cludes Hampshire, Sussex saw the biggest fall in violent crime (12 per cent) and theft (11 per cent).
Crime fighters also detected more crimes in the last year, scoring a 'rating' of 32 per cent – a 6.5 per cent rise on the previous year.
Assistant Chief Constable Robin Merrett said the figures were a 'tribute to the work of police officers and staff'.
"These are excellent results. Most important is there were more than 13,000 fewer victims of crime in Sussex last year," he said.
"The figures indicate Sussex remains a safe place to live.
"They are a tribute to the work of police officers and staff, and the partners with whom we work closely, but there is no room for complacency.
"We want people to feel safe as well as be safe and continue to work on this."
In neighbouring Hampshire, overall crime fell by nine per cent with all crime categories following the trend except for drug crime and those classified as 'other offences', which rose by 41 and five per cent respectively.
For the first time this year, the Home Office included a new set of figures showing levels of knife crime in all forces.
In Sussex there were 274 crimes where a knife or 'bladed instrument' was used. In Hampshire there were 388.
The data encompasses attempted murder, grievous bodily harm, wounding – with or without intent to cause grievous bodily harm – and robbery.
But murder and manslaughter are excluded because homicide data is recorded separately.
ACC Merrett said he was determined to reduce knife crime across the county.
"Every knife crime has serious – sometimes tragic – consequences for victims and their families, and we will do all we can to reduce them," he said. "But these numbers need to be kept in proportion.
"Sussex remains a safe place to live and we have not experienced the level of knife crime that has been seen in some of our major cities."
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The full article contains 467 words and appears in OS-Chichester Observer newspaper.
