CRIME has plummeted by more than 70 per cent in a village near York thanks to a police crackdown on anti-social yobs.

The Press reported how residents in Bishopthorpe had been hit by a wave of vandalism 18 months ago.

A total of 16 incidents of criminal damage were reported in the village during December 2008 alone despite a normal monthly average of five incidents.

In just four weeks, youths damaged seven fences, one gate and four sets of outside Christmas lights.

They also threw a traffic cone at a car, smashed a shop window, damaged the roof of Bishopthorpe Methodist Church and vandalised the CCTV camera at the Co-op store.

Bishopthorpe neighbourhood policing team drafted in extra resources to patrol the village and succeeded in arresting a number of offenders in connection with incidents of criminal damage.

Sergeant Andy Haigh said the criminals had been robustly dealt with and crime was now at an all-time low.

In 2008/09 there were 185 crimes in the area with at one point crime in the area being 38 per cent above the year before, in 2009/10 there were 173 crimes.

In 20010 so far there have just been nine crimes so far, compared to 31 at the same period last year a drop of 70.97 per cent.

Sgt Haigh welcomed the drop in crime, and said the police would be continuing their efforts to catch all the offenders.

He said: “We had a group working with parents and youngsters in the area to discuss the issues and measures were put in place to tackle the crime in the village.

“Because of this two youngsters in particular have been robustly dealt with in relation to arson and theft.

“As a result crime has significantly been reduced in the area in the last year.”

Anyone with information about incidents should phone North Yorkshire Police on 0845 6060247.