Police Scotland record further fall in crime

Police Scotland have published figures indicating a further fall in recorded crime in the past year.

Overall crime fell by 4.7%, although an increase was reported in sexual offences and domestic abuse.

The police claimed this was partly because of a new approach to tackling these offences, which has encouraged more victims to come forward.

Recorded crimes of violence, dishonesty and anti-social behaviour were all down.

The figures cover the period 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015.

Deputy Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said: "Our focus is on keeping people safe. From the most violent crime which happens less frequently, to higher volume crime such as housebreaking and incidents of disorder and anti-social behaviour which impact on community well-being, Police Scotland is committed to both the prevention and detection of crime.

"Public confidence and user satisfaction in the service remains high, which is welcome, given the way policing has evolved over the past two years since the introduction of a single service.

"We are making significant in-roads in the disruption of serious organised crime in Scotland, through a different style of approach built upon collaboration and smarter working."

Major investigations

The figures recorded a 6% reduction in crimes of violence. The overall detection rate was 84%.

That included 55 murders recorded during the period covered by the report. Police Scotland also cleared up a number of historical cases, making the official detection rate for murder 109.1%.

There was an increase of 1.8% in domestic abuse incidents, to a total of 59,471.

There was a 9.3% increase in recorded sexual crime. There were 1,797 rapes recorded in the course of the year.

Mr Livingstone added: "Through the introduction of Major Investigation Teams, Rape and Domestic Abuse Taskforces and divisional investigation units, we have seen national specialist support being provided to local policing teams to ensure our response is as effective and responsive as possible."

The police figures indicated a small increase in the number fatalities on the roads. Two more people - a total of 192 - were killed.

The number of those seriously injured in traffic accidents fell by 5%.