Chief hails figures as crime falls 10 per cent

Crime rates have dropped by 10 per cent in Staffordshire over the last three months, according to the latest figures released by the county's force.

Anti-social behaviour and violent crime are among the offences which have fallen compared to last year.

Staffordshire Police's first-quarter results for 2008/09 also show that 88 per cent of crime victims were satisfied with the force's overall response, while 97 per cent were satisfied with how they were treated by officers and staff.

The figures, which cover April 1 to June 30 this year, were presented to the Police Authority yesterday.

There were 2,408 fewer crimes overall in Staffordshire between April and June, falling almost 10 per cent from 24,382 offences in the same period in 2007 to 21,974 this year.

Violent crime fell by almost nine per cent compared to last year, from 6,027 to 5,503. Serious theft crime such as burglary, robbery and theft, fell by 12 per cent from 3,941 to 3,463, while business-related crime dropped almost 15 per cent from 2,578 to 2,194.

Assistant Chief Constable Douglas Paxton said: "These promising results provide an excellent platform."

Anti-social behaviour incidents were cut five per cent from 17,625 to 16,744. The figures also reveal the number of people killed or seriously injured on Staffordshire roads was reduced from 97 in the first quarter of last year to 85 in 2008.