CRIME is down in West Yorkshire by 9% according to figures released by the Home Office.

The statistics for the period from September 2011 to September 2012 show the overall burglary tally which includes both homes and businesses is down by 18% but still remains way above the national average.

West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson, pictured below, said: “West Yorkshire Police continues to perform well in difficult times with crime falling at a faster level on average in the force area when compared to other areas in England and Wales. It is particularly good to see that there has been less violent crime overall.

“However, we continue to suffer with a high burglary rate and although these figures show a clear drop we are still high when compared to other forces – 13 burglaries per 1,000 population compared to a national average of nine per 1,000 population.

“I will be including burglary as a priority in the Police and Crime Plan 2013/14 and to make sure people in West Yorkshire feel safer and are safer in their communities.

“I intend to raise my concerns about burglary levels with the Chief Constable and look at ways of working to continue to drive burglary down and move us much closer to the national average.”

Figures when compared with the previous year show:

There were 17,929 fewer victims of crime

Burglary of dwellings was down by 27%

Vehicle crime dropped by 12%

Violent crime was down by 11%

Robbery reduced by 11%

West Yorkshire Police’s Temporary Chief Constable John Parkinson said: “The figures show overall crime in West Yorkshire has dropped with nearly 18,000 fewer victims of crime and the risk of being a victim of crime in the county almost halving over the last 10 years.

“It is encouraging to see that, according to the latest public surveys, we are achieving a high level of public satisfaction among the people we serve with 60% agreeing that the police are dealing with local concerns.

“Our commitment to neighbourhood policing is stronger than ever before and is helping to deliver the local policing service residents want. However, the cuts to our resources mean that we face challenging times to maintain our progress in reducing crime. The force will work closely with the Police and Crime Commissioner to prioritise resources re-focussing them to reduce crime in general and burglary in particular.

“The very positive 27% drop in burglary is welcomed, but we need to continue to work at reducing this figure even further.”

In a top 20 postcodes where homeowners are most likely to have claimed on home insurance for burglary Leeds figures five times – including the top spot.

MoneySupermarket.com analysed 3.49 million applications for home insurance quotes made between December 2011 and the end of November 2012.

They looked at the number of users who said they had made a claim for burglary at their current address in the past two years.

The number of claims made per 1,000 enquiries was then calculated, to allow areas to be compared and number one was LS13 Leeds (34.8 per 1,000).