THE chief constable of a North-East police force said last night the latest crime figures confirm his force's area as one of the country's safest places to live and work.

Chief Constable Paul Garvin, of the County Dur-ham and Darlington force, was speaking after the release of statistics yesterday that showed recorded crime fell in the North-East by eight per cent, with the national figure at six per cent.

The number of crimes recorded by the Durham and Darlington force in the past 12 months was 47,115 -more than 1,300 less than in the previous year.

Mr Garvin said surveys in the wake of the force's StreetSafe initiative -launched to tackle anti-social behaviour, disorder and low-level crime -had confirmed a growing public "feelgood factor".

Over the past ten years, crime in County Durham and Darlington has fallen by a quarter, from an all-time high in the mid-90s of more than 62,000.

In the past 12 months, thefts fell by almost 17 per cent, house burglaries were down by more than 13 per cent, drug offences have fallen by nearly 12 per cent and robberies have fallen by a third.

In Darlington, crime went down by more than 11 per cent, in Peterlee by almost four per cent and in Durham by more than two per cent.

The number of violent crime has risen by 5.7 per cent across the force.

However, Mr Garvin said he did not believe this was because more crimes were committed, but that more crimes were reported.