Lincolnshire has bucked the national trend by recording a further drop in crime.
Overall crime dropped by one per cent in the year to September 2015 – a figure which has been welcomed by police bosses in the county.
However, the latest figures reveal that violent crime has increased in the same period by nine per cent.
Det Ch Supt Paul Gibson said: “Our countywide Operation Nova (say NO to Violence and Abuse) is specifically targeting violent crime and we are confident that our multi-agency efforts in this area will result in returning to a reducing trend for the next period of reporting from the nine per cent increase reported today.
“However, it is important to emphasise that Lincolnshire has one of the lowest recorded rates of violent crime in the country.”
Mr Gibson also highlighted that, like most forces across the country, Lincolnshire has experienced an increase in reported sexual offences.
He said: “A large proportion of this is as a result of the widespread and national publicity about historical sex abuse which is encouraging people to report such crimes more readily than they would have done before.
“We have already made announcements that we are changing our policing model to put more resources into protecting vulnerable people, which includes further investment in child sexual exploitation, online grooming, cyber-crime and other emerging crime areas.”
He also welcomed reductions in theft and house burglary, saying: “The reductions in these offences have contributed to the overall reduction in recorded crime in Lincolnshire.”
