North: Overall crime down, but hate attacks up

Crime levels in the North fell last year - despite an increase in sexual and race hate attacks, police revealed today.

Just one in four offences were cleared, although the drop was blamed on a higher evidential standard used for cases requiring no further action.

With less offences in six of the nine main categories, including burglary, robbery, theft, fraud and forgery, and offences against the state, senior officers emphasised their successes.

Deputy Chief Constable Paul Leighton, who will brief the Policing Board on the annual figures today, said developing techniques and greater public support was helping in the war on crime.

He said: "There has been a decrease of 1.7% in overall crime in 2006/07 compared with the previous year. This means 2,050 fewer crimes committed. Since 2002/03 crime has fallen by 21,352 offences, a decrease of 15%."

Mr Leighton stressed how burglaries fell by 9.9%; thefts by 5.8%; and fraud and forgery offences by 12%.

Vehicle crimes were down by 8.8% and robberies showed an overall decrease of 9.7%.

A fifth more people were arrested for drug related offences and, even though overall seizures dropped, the recovery of Class A narcotics rose by nearly 59%.

But despite less murders and attempted killings, there were significant increases in some hate crime areas.

With rising numbers of migrant workers moving to the North amid its massive economic development, attacks on ethnic minorities have become a major concern.

And last year 111 more racist incidents were recorded than the previous 12 months.

So-called faith/religion incidents also went up by nearly 95%, although homophobic and sectarian attacks fell.

Mr Leighton accepted there were areas of concern, pointing to an overall rise in violent crime, including a 5% increase in sexual assaults.

"In some jurisdictions reports of sexual offences have been declining and this has been linked to a lack of confidence in the legal system," the Deputy Chief Constable said.

"If the rise in reports of sexual offences means that people are reporting the crime and have confidence in our ability to deal with it, then that is positive.

"Offences of criminal damage also rose by 4.4%. It is evident that there are times of the year when there are peaks in criminal damage, such as Halloween, and police are working in conjunction with communities to reduce the incidents of this crime though analysis and targeting specific areas."