SENIOR police officers insist that they're making Waveney a safer place to live despite new figures revealing a big rise in burglaries and robberies over the past year.

SENIOR police officers insist that they're making Waveney a safer place to live despite new figures revealing a big rise in burglaries and robberies over the past year.

New official figures this week show that overall crime in the district was down by 0.5pc for the 12 months up to March 31 this year. That equates to a year-on-year decrease of 44 offences from 8,270 recorded offences in 2008/9 to 8,226 this year.

The Waveney figures are also slightly better than the Suffolk-wide picture, which shows a 0.2pc fall.

But more alarmingly, the figures also show that house burglaries (up 36pc) and robberies (up 12pc) have increased markedly over the past 12 months.

Despite this, detectives say that they're confident of turning the tide after a series of arrests.

'The number of robberies in the district has increased by 12pc from 50 incidents last year to 56 incidents this year and house burglaries are up by 36pc from 341 last year to 465 this year,' a police spokesman said.

'However this has been a priority for police, with officers targeting those responsible for this type of crime, and resulting in charges this week for conspiracy to burgle. This work continues,' the spokesman added.

For three of the five safer neighbourhood team areas in Waveney - Lowestoft North SNT, Southwold & Halesworth SNT, Lowestoft Central SNT, Lowestoft South SNT and Beccles and Bungay SNT - there was a mixed overall picture.

Total recorded crime: Lowestoft North SNT - 1,778 offences in 2009/10 up from 1,753 crimes in 2008/9, which is a rise of 1.4pc.

Southwold & Halesworth SNT - 423 offences in 2009/10 down from 496 crimes in 2008/9, which is a drop of 14.7pc.

Lowestoft Central SNT - 3,274 offences in 2009/10 down from 3,362 crimes in 2008/9, which is a drop of 2.6pc.

Lowestoft South SNT - (figures at January 31, 2010) 1,480 offences in 2009/10 up from 1451 crimes in 2008/9, which is a rise of 2pc.

Beccles and Bungay SNT - 989 offences in 2009/10 up from 936 crimes in 2008/9, which is a rise of 5.7pc.

Waveney-wide figures have also shown that four key crime areas have decreased in the past year.

'Violence against the person with injury is down by 2pc from 903 incidents to 888 incidents, and most serious violent crime is down by 9pc from 66 incidents to 60,' the police spokesman said.

Vehicle crime is also down by 1pc year on year, with criminal damage having fallen significantly by 9pc.

Reflecting on these figures, Detective Chief Inspector Jim Keeble said: 'It has been a challenging year given the volume of burglaries over the winter.