Crime down on previous year

5:54pm Friday 9th May 2008

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OVERALL crime in the district has dropped in the last two years.

Braintree's police force was faced with 7,436 recorded crimes between April 1, 2007 and March 31, 2008, compared to 7,829 during the same period in 2006/7.

Offenders were caught in almost 1 in 3 crimes over the last financial year.

Broken down into different categories, there were 269 house burglaries compared to 276 on the previous year, 39 robberies compared to 38 and thefts of vehicles from 278 to 204.

Thefts from vehicles dropped from 695 to 634, while incidents of violent crime - which ranges from public order offences to murder - rose by ten to 1599.

Criminal damage dropped from 2073 in 2006/7 to 2053.

Chief Insp Alan Gooden, district commander for Braintree, said 782 crimes have already been reported from April 1 this year to May 9, compared to 856 at the same time last year.