Crime figures boost, but still work to do

But despite the good news revealed in Chief Constable Tony Butler's latest quarterly report, the force is still well short of its ambitious targets for catching burglars and violent criminals.

The report shows that overall reported crime for the period between July 1 and September 30 was down by 1,128 offences - 8.6% - on the same period last year.

For several types of crime the figures show huge drops. House burglaries are down by 409 (33.1%), other burglaries by 342 (23.5%), thefts from vehicles by 523 (26.1%) and thefts of vehicles by 253 (39.7%).

During the three months the police were only able to solve 18.8% of house burglaries, far below its target figure of 30%.

But Mr Butler defends the force performance, saying: "A target to detect 30% of all domestic burglaries is extremely challenging, indeed it sets a standard that was not met by any English police force in 1999/2000."

He said one of the reasons was that there was a fall in the number of burglaries and more were now classed as attempted break-ins, which were harder to solve than raids where people actually stole goods.

Detection rates for violent crime also fall to 73%, below the 80% target. Mr Butler said: "There has been an increase in the incidence of violence in public places by strangers. Because these types of violent crime are much more difficult to detect, the constabulary's detection rate has declined." The force is fighting back, though, with a series of late-night operations in Cheltenham and Gloucester.

Police have succeeded in bettering their 12% detection rate target for car crime. The target itself is 50% higher than the national detection rate for last year.

Mr Butler's report highlights the success of two summer crime prevention campaigns in the north Cotswolds targeting churches and holidaymakers and tourists to the region, which had both proved a major success in cutting those areas of crime.