CRIME in Dorset is up again, figures out today reveal.

In the 12 months ending in March, the total number of crimes in the county rose by nine per cent from 50,320 to 54,951.

Next Thursday's Dorset Police Authority meeting will be given a report on the figures, which includes comments by Chief Constable Jane Stichbury. She says: "Overall it has been a challenging year and a very good year for the number of detections and the detection rate, which have both improved.

"More criminals are being caught in Dorset, which helps us sustain the county's position as a very safe place in which to live and work.

"While there has been a slight rise in crime - in part due to the new National Crime Recording Standard - the force is never complacent and we are committed to our delivering on our five year targets for burglary and vehicle crime, which we are on target to achieve. This year we are focusing on recorded violent crime."

Annual figures for Dorset show that violent crimes rose by 25.7 per cent, from 4,595 to 5,776, the number of domestic violent crimes rose 25.8 per cent, from 457 to 575, and domestic violence incidents rose 10.2 per cent, from 2,339 to 2,578.

The total number of homophobic incidents shot up by 54 per cent, from 26 to 40, while the number of racial incidents rose by 25 per cent, from 55 to 69.

The annual crime figures also showed that the number of people charged, summonsed or reported for offences related to the supply of class A drugs increased 14.9 per cent, from 87 to 100.

Criminal damage increased by 14.3 per cent and with theft (excluding vehicles) accounted for 42 per cent of recorded county crime.

Elsewhere, house burglaries rose by two per cent, from 3,281 to 3,346, while vehicle crime rose by 1.6 per cent, from 9,658 to 9,811 incidents.

But while total crimes were up, so were the number of detections by police - which rose 16.7 per cent from 12,484 to 14,567.

The number of violent crime detections was also up sharply by 36 per cent, from 2,812 to 3,823, while the number of detections for domestic violent crime rocketed by 57.7 per cent, from 291 to 459.

There was also a sharp 26.9 per cent rise in the number of dwelling burglary detections, from 472 to 599.

And police still managed to answer 13.6 per cent more 999 calls within the target time of ten seconds despite a 24.5 per cent increase in the number of 999 calls, from 92,609 to 115,312.

Nationwide statistics show Dorset to be the sixth safest county in England and Wales for violent crime, the 11th safest for household burglaries and the 13th safest for robbery.

The county figures partly relate to the new National Crime Recording Standard which was adopted by Dorset Police earlier this year. Training for it began in January, while a pilot scheme has been operating in Poole as far back as September 2001.

The new standard means police will be able to record a crime even if a victim or witness refuses to make a complaint. The aim is to make crime recording more consistent between forces and more 'victim focused'.

Assistant Chief Constable (Operations) Chris Lee said: "This new standard should assist us to record crimes in a consistent manner while taking proper account of public concerns by adopting a more victim-led approach.

"The standard means the police will act on a victim's perception of victimisation and the balance of probability rather than requiring hard evidence to prove a crime has occurred so incidents not previously recorded as crimes will now be recorded as such."

n WHAT DO YOU THINK? Is Dorset still a safe place to live or are our police struggling to cope? Write to: Letters, Dorset Echo, Fleet House, Hampshire Road, Weymouth DT4 9XD or e-mail to: letters@dorsetecho.co.uk