Nottinghamshire sees top crime reduction

Nottinghamshire has seen the largest fall in crime in England and Wales, according to Home Office figures.

Figures recorded by Nottinghamshire Police indicated a 14% drop in all offences in the county.

In 2010-11, robbery fell by 25% and burglary by 19% but there was a 14% rise in drug offences, compared with the previous year.

The force, which for years faced high crime figures, is now 16th out of the 43 police areas in England and Wales.

The figures, audited by the Home Office, showed there were 84,263 recorded offences in Nottinghamshire overall.

'Drugs seized'

This included 1,455 robberies, 11,690 burglaries and 8,986 incidents of vehicle crime - a fall of 23%.

There were 4,637 drug offences recorded in the same period.

Violent crime fell by 16% to 15,431 and sexual offences by 14% to 1,107.

Assistant Chief Constable Paul Broadbent said the figures showed there had been 14,000 fewer victims of crime.

"We have seen the largest reduction in crime than any other force in the country, with domestic burglary, violence against a person with injury, and serious acquisitive crime down considerably.

"Recorded drugs offences have increased, but police activity and information gathered from the public through intelligence has an impact on that.

"We have seized over £600,000 worth of drugs in the last two years of Operation Vanguard alone."