Rates of homicides, assaults and burglaries fall

HOMICIDES, assaults, burglaries and driving-related offences dropped last year, latest reported crime figures reveal.

Data from the Central Statistics Office, comparing the whole of 2010 to the whole of 2009, also show reductions in property crime, public disorder, kidnappings and gun crimes.

But robberies and extortion, threats of murder, drug supply offences and a range of thefts were up.