OVERALL crime has fallen in Darlington over the last year, with significant reductions in shed burglaries and theft from vehicles.

Durham Police and Crime Commissioner Ron Hogg updated Darlington Councillors on projected crime rates for the borough for the latest financial year at the most recent full council meeting.

The figures revealed that overall crime has fallen by four percent.

This includes a 20 per cent reduction in theft from vehicles and a 28 per cent fall in burglaries from buildings other than homes - places such as sheds and commercial properties.

Shoplifting has reduced by one per cent.

The figures were not positive across the board however, as house burglaries were up one per cent and violence against the person increased by 24 per cent.

Darlington Neighbourhood Inspector Caroline Dawson welcomed the results and said that there were positives to take from the increase in the violence against the person rate because it showed that more people were reporting such crimes.

She said: “People might see 24 per cent and think Darlington must be getting out of hand – that isn’t the case.

“It is a real positive because we are doing a lot of work particularly around domestic violence, encouraging people to come forward and tell us about domestic violence.

“In the same way we are working on tackling racially aggravated incidents; we are getting quite far into diverse communities and encouraging them to report incidents and we have had a high proportion of people brought to justice.

“Although we have a higher number, it is good that people feel more positive about coming forward to tell the police.”

Insp Dawson said that she was particularly pleased with the reduction in shoplifting.

It represents Darlington bucking the regional trend because although the fall is only one per cent, shoplifting has increased by 20 per cent across the whole Durham Police force area.

Insp Dawson said that Darlington’s results were partly down to better use of sharing CCTV footage with partner agencies, an improved system for officers to access footage and using social media to identify suspects.

She said that officers would continue to work with retailers and residents across the borough to ensure that Darlington remains a safe place to live, with a particular emphasis on tackling anti-social behaviour.