CRIMINAL damage was by far the most common type of reported crime in North Devon and Torridge in the past year, official figures show.

Between December 2008 and December 2009 there were 4,681 crimes reported in the districts and 231 of those reports became "no crimes" (were not recorded as crimes).

Although many crimes are never reported to the police, and so do not show up in these figures, the official numbers show North Devon still has much lower crime rates than other parts of the UK.

By far the most common crime locally was criminal damage (1,244 cases, or 27% of the total). The second most common was theft, with 747 cases, or 16% of the total. That was closely followed by assault, with 497 crimes, or 11% of the total. There were 340 burglaries and 284 common assaults.

And over the 12-months serious crime levels remained low in relative terms, with one murder, 31 serious assaults and 62 sexual offences recorded.

The types of reported crimes most likely to become "no crimes" were: theft (60 no crimes); fraud and forgery (45 no crimes); and criminal damage (31 no crimes). Crime levels stayed relatively static from month to month, with an average of about 390 recorded crimes every month.

Northern Devon Superintendent Kevin Harris said crime was "extremely low" in Northern Devon and was continuing to fall.

He said: "We have currently managed a reduction of 1,083 fewer victims of crime (15%) compared to the same period last year (April to January).

"Criminal damage, although one of the highest volume crime types, has actually seen one of the biggest reductions, with 571 fewer victims (29% reduction). Likewise with assaults, which on the face of it seem quite high compared to other crime types, we have 69 fewer victims this year.

"One of the reasons criminal damage and assaults are relatively high compared to other crime types is the Home Office crime recording rules encompass so many different scenarios that include graffiti, broken windows, broken car aerials, children falling out in the playground, through to domestic abuse.

"They are often linked to other types of antisocial behaviour incidents which are a priority for the police.

"We recognise that although many of these are relatively minor offences they impact hugely on people feeling safe within their communities and that is why we work so hard to stamp out this type of offending.

"The local beat teams have had terrific success through working hand-in-hand with the district councils and our other partners in engaging with our communities to reduce these offences and divert people away from this type of behaviour.

"It is also really important for public confidence to highlight the overall detection rate of 35% on these greatly reduced numbers which is supported by the 89% customer satisfaction rates across Northern Devon being the best in the entire Devon and Cornwall Constabulary."

● You can look at more local crime statistics on the

Journal

website at www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/999 and you have your say about your experience of crime at www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/news