NEW figures have revealed that Suffolk is one of the safest county's in the country - despite overall crime increasing.The Home Office yesterday released the country's crime figures for the 12 months up to September 2009.

NEW figures have revealed that Suffolk is one of the safest county's in the country - despite overall crime increasing.

The Home Office yesterday released the country's crime figures for the 12 months up to September 2009.

The figures reveal that in Suffolk, there were 67 recorded offences for every 1,000 people in the county. This puts Suffolk among the bottom 10 counties for the number of offences committed per 1,000 of the population. Despite this, forces in Essex and Norfolk recorded less offences per 1,000 of the population with the figures at 64 and 57 respectively.

The figure for the whole of the East of England is 68 while England and Wales is 83.

Other forces which had less crimes recorded per 1,000 of the population included Wiltshire, Devon and Cornwall, Surrey, West Mercia, North Yorkshire and Cumbria.

The figures also revealed that the total number of offences in Suffolk increased by 1pc on the previous year.

Earlier this week, figures released from Suffolk police, which covered April 1 to December 31 last year, revealed that the number of domestic abuse crimes in the county had risen by 22pc on the same period in 2008.

The figures also revealed that there had been increases in violent crimes and serious sexual offences as well as significant reductions in robbery and vehicle crime.

Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Stewart Gull said: 'As you would expect, Suffolk Police Authority and the Constabulary closely monitor crime rates in Suffolk. Encouragingly, the latest figures for April 2009 to the end of December 2009 show overall recorded crime is only up by 0.6%. Indications are that the steps we are taking to tackle the increase in crime are beginning to pay off.'

Nationally, the figures released yesterday revealed that crime fell sharply last year despite the recession. Police forces in England and Wales recorded surprising falls in burglary, robbery and violence in the three months to September. Total offences reported to the police fell by 8pc - amounting to nearly 100,000 fewer crimes out of 1.1 million committed.