YORKSHIRE has the highest level of burglary in Britain, according to new official figures.
Burglary rates for the Yorkshire and The Humber region are revealed as part of the British Crime Survey today.
While the burglary figure fell, the rate of 16 for every 1,000 people in the region was the worst in the country.
But the national figures show crime has plummeted since its 1995 peak - down 44%.
That equates to 8.4m fewer crimes.
West Yorkshire Police say crimes reported to them fell by 2% - which was 4,647 fewer offences.
The national figures show the lowest level of recorded crime since the British Crime Survey began in 1981.
Since 1995 vehicle crime has fallen by 60% and house burglaries are down by 59%. Violent crime is down 43%.
The worrying statistic that bucks the trend is the robbery rate, which has gone up by 8% over the last year, pushing the violent crime rate up 2%.
Home Secretary John Reid said: "I share the concerns of many people that the numbers of violent offences recorded by the police have increased, particularly robbery.
"This is largely driven by a rise in the numbers of young people carrying expensive goods such as mobile phones and MP3 players.
"While that is a reason, it is not an excuse. I am determined to reverse the rise in recorded robbery and am already taking action to address it.
"We have made significant progress on violent crime in recent years, but I accept that more needs to be done and the Government is determined to achieve further reductions.
"We are reforming the criminal justice system to bring greater numbers of offenders to justice and to deter future offenders, rebalancing the system so that it serves victims, witnesses and the community better."
In the Yorkshire and the Humber region violent crime increased by 9% and recorded crime rose by 1%, making it 118 offences per 1,000 people.
Vehicle crime fell 6% in the year ending March 2006 compared to the previous year and burglary fell by 6%.
West Yorkshire Assistant Chief Constable David Crompton said: "We have sustained continued reductions in high volume crimes such as house burglaries – current levels are less than half those of four years ago.
"Other offences such as vehicle crime have also shown a good reduction. Vehicle thefts reduced by a quarter in 2005/6, when compared with the previous year."
He said increases in recorded violent crime were due to lower level offences such as common assault and harassment, often associated with alcohol misuse and anti-social behaviour.
