CRIME has fallen overall on the North-East's railways, but public order, drugs and fraud offences have increased, according to British Transport Police figures released today.

The network from east Lincolnshire to the Scottish borders saw a 4.7 per cent drop in crime over the past year.

However, drugs offences rose by almost half, up to 303 from 203, while public order offences were up almost onethird, from 417 to 540.

Fraud increased by one quarter, from 77 incidents to 97 incidents. Violent crime decreased by 2.5 per cent, robbery was down by more than a third to 33 incidents and theft of passengers' property dropped from 1,520 to 1,269, 16.5 per cent.

Sexual offences dropped by more than one-seventh, down from 88 to 76.

Superintendent Terry Nicholson, of British Transport Police, said crime had fallen for a record four years in succession against a background of record passenger numbers.

He said: "Britain's rail system is clearly a low crime environment.

"However, anti-social behaviour and low level disorder remain a important issue for British Transport Police and the industry, and something which impacts directly on how people feel about travelling by rail, the working environment of staff and the fear of crime.

"We have put in dedicated neighbourhood policing teams on key routes and stations.

They are proving their worth by reducing anti-social behaviour and crime.

"We intend to build upon this success, and introduce more police community support officers across the northeastern area to engage with rail passengers and staff, in order to develop tailor-made solutions to tackle local issues.

"Through a programme designed to put more of our resources into frontline policing, we are aiming to increase their numbers."

He said police had been tackling the knife-carrying culture by using mobile metal detection arches and scanners at stations.

Supt Nicholson said the main contributor to the increase in reported drugs offences had been the use of drugs dogs, along with increased operations at anti-social behaviour hotspots and among travelling football fans.

He said: "These figures are good news for rail passengers and staff.

"Just about every category of crime is down, with robbery down 36 per cent and violent crime down three per cent and theft of passenger property down 17 per cent.

"In addition, British Transport Police in the North-East achieved all of its operational targets and increased the detection rate of crime by five percentage points.

"These results are a tribute not only to hard work of our police officers and police staff, but to the commitment and investment of the rail industry in improving the safety and security of passengers and rail staff."