Policing Board reports 10% fall in NI crime rate

Crime rates in Northern Ireland dropped by 10.5 per cent last year, according to the Policing Board, which published its annual report today.

The report said that between April 2007 and March 2008, the North experienced the lowest crime rate since new recording procedures were introduced a decade ago. Policing Board chairman Professor Sir Desmond Rea said this fall beats the target set in its 2007-2010 Policing Plan.

However, Prof Rea said the low overall clearance rate remained a cause for concern. He said the Board has set the PSNI a target of increasing the clearance rate by five percentage point by 2011.

Prof Rea said the PSNI and Board still face a number of challenges, despite the “tangible reality of full political and community support for policing”.

These include improving public safety, tackling domestic abuse and building public confidence in the police in areas where there has traditionally been a lack of community support.

While progress had been made, Prof Rea said the “spectre of times past had also reared its ugly head”, with a number of attacks by dissident republicans on police officers.

"In their delusion, terrorists must not be allowed to undermine the genuine progress that has been made and I trust that all those who want to live in a future that bears no resemblance to the past will unite to deny the dissidents any foothold in the present", he said.