THE crime rate in central North Yorkshire is continuing to fall, police figures released today reveal.

For the period from April 1 to August 31, there were 811 fewer crimes compared to the same period last year - a drop of 7.5 per cent.

And the detection rate has risen, so that charges are brought in one out of every three crimes, compared to one in four last year.

The latest crime figures were announced on the day the Police Federation is to raise concerns that a fall in the number of traffic officers has made the county's roads more dangerous.

Bob Humpleby, chairman of the North Yorkshire branch of the Police Federation, will tell Chief Constable David Kenworthy at tonight's Federation annual meeting that road fatalities have risen since around 30 officers were removed from traffic duty during the recent boundary and structure review.

Mr Humpleby will say that there have been 58 deaths on the county's roads so far this year, compared to 31 in Northumberland, 16 in Durham and 16 in Cleveland.

The crime figures for North Yorkshire police's central area, which includes York, Selby, Tadcaster and Sherburn-in-Elmet, show that 3,755 people were arrested during the four-month period.

More than 209 search warrants were executed.

Superintendent John Lacy, chief of operations for the central area, said the figures compared "very favourably" with other areas in the country.

He said: "These kind of figures don't just happen - they involve a lot of hard work not only by police officers but also by members of the public and the considerable support of City of York Council and Selby District Council."

York experienced a significant drop in house burglaries, with 349 fewer people broken into - a reduction of 34 per cent.

Supt Lacy said the current trend was toward sneak-in burglaries and away from forced entry.

"Clearly many of these break-ins could have been avoided," he said, adding that 102 people had been arrested for burglary since April.

Violent crime in the city was down by six per cent, meaning 43 fewer assaults. The lack of violence during the recent Ebor meeting at York Racecourse was a major factor for the decrease, Supt Lacy said.

The main rise was in vehicle theft, which showed a 24 per cent increase.

Supt Lacy attributed the rise to the number of mopeds stolen, but said traffic officers were now targeting motorcycle thieves.

The figures for the eastern area of the county, which includes Ryedale, were not available.

david.wiles@ycp.co.uk

PICTURE: Chief Constable David Kenworthy