Nottinghamshire Police see double average crime fall

The force saw a reduction in all recorded crime except drugs offences

Crime in Nottinghamshire has fallen by the joint largest amount in England and Wales, according to Home Office statistics.

In the year to September 2010, there were 90,583 recorded crimes in the county - a 16% drop on the previous year.

The largest cuts were in vehicle crime, firearms offences and criminal damage.

Despite these results, the force still has the fifth worst crime rate of the 43 force areas in England and Wales.

The Home Office said there were 153 firearms offences in the year to September, a reduction of about 25%.

Recorded vehicle crime fell by 30% to 10,148 offences and criminal damage fell by 24% to 17,324.

The only area to record a rise, of 13%, was drug offences.

Nottinghamshire Police underlined the fact the county's fall in crime, matched by that in Durham and Gloucestershire, was twice the national average.

Gun crime reputation

Assistant Chief Constable Paul Broadbent said: "This is progress that we, our partners and, most importantly, the residents of the city and the county can all be very proud of. A lot of very hard work has gone into first, achieving such high crime reduction rates and secondly, maintaining them.

"Forcewide initiatives like Operation Arrow, which targeted robbery, burglary and vehicle crime, and neighbourhood policing operations to increase patrols in vehicle crime hotspot areas, for instance, have made and continue to make a difference."

But the British Crime Survey, which uses interviews to measure people's experience of crime, found public satisfaction with the response of police and other bodies to crime in the county was lower than the national average.

The fall in gun crime is particularly significant for Nottingham, which gained a reputation for firearm offences after a series of murders, including those of Marian Bates in September 2003 and Danielle Beccan in October 2004.

The highest recorded crime rate, of 91 offences per 1,000 people, was in Greater Manchester, with Dyfed- Powys having the lowest of 43.