THE number of crimes recorded in the region has fallen during the past year - but robbery and vehicle theft in one police force area is on the rise.

Figures released by the Home Office today show that the number of offences in the County Durham, Cleveland and Northumbria police force areas fell by 4.8 per cent to 243,836 between April last year and March this year.

North Yorkshire Police also recorded fewer offences, with the figure falling by 3.7 per cent to 51,551.

In County Durham, the total number of crimes fell 8.4 per cent to 44,702 - the fourth lowest figure in England and Wales.

Burglaries dropped 20.8 per cent to 3,201, while robberies fell 2.1 per cent to 231.

Violent crime was also down four per cent to 5,180, and vehicle theft dropped 11.8 per cent to 8,047.

Assistant Chief Constable Ron Hogg said: "The hard work of a great many people inside and outside this force has combined to achieve what we consider our remarkable results.

"It is consistently good news with fewer and fewer people falling victim to crime."

In Cleveland, which was subject to the long-running Operation Lancet inquiry into police corruption, the total number of crimes fell 1.3 per cent to a ten-year low of 64,357. Violent crime fell 2.7 per cent to 2,944, and burglary dropped 7.5 per cent 3,666.

Assistant Chief Constable Bryan Bell said: "We remain confident that our strategy of crime reduction is continuing to pay dividends and we intend this to continue."

But the number of robberies in Cleveland increased 11.1 per cent to 932, and vehicle theft rose 4.9 per cent to 13,666.

The region's biggest force, Northumbria, recorded an overall drop in crime of 5.3 per cent to 134,777 and North Yorkshire fell 3.7 per cent to 51,551.

Alan Brown, Home Office crime reduction director for the North-East, said the "significant" falls showed police were back on track to meet demanding targets to reduce burglary and vehicle crime.

But he said: "One continued area of concern is the continued increase in robbery which rose by 3.2 per cent. However, the rate of rise is slowing."