POLICE chiefs in Darlington have reported a significant fall in crime levels this year - but admit more must be done to combat anti-social behaviour.

Latest figures for the 2004/05 period so far show that there has been a 15.3 per cent decrease in recorded crimes in the town.

There have been 3,293 - down on the 3,889 recorded for the same period last year.

But senior police figures admit that work needs to be done to tackle the problem of anti-social behaviour in the town.

Incidents of youths causing an annoyance are up 174 per cent, from 1,908 last year to 3,330 this year.

Although it is a sharp rise, Superintendent Bruce Turnbull said the figure showed that the public was helping police by reporting cases.

"There are some issues we need to address. There are little pockets of anti-social behaviour around the town, where it is causing disruption to residents," he said.

"The phrase 'youths causing annoyance' captures a wide variety of things, from abuse to kids kicking a football about in the streets and someone not liking it.

"The increase could be seen as a success because it shows people are reporting to us what is impacting on their quality of life."

The statistics also show violent crime down 3.8 per cent, drugs offences down 9.9 per cent and burglaries cut by 8.4 per cent. Thefts of vehicles have decreased by 28.1 per cent and thefts from vehicles by 49.3 per cent.

Supt Turnbull said police would continue to crack down on garage and shed burglaries, which often lead to stolen property going to black markets.

"The other thing we must do is encourage people not to buy from these markets, as that is perpetuating the cycle of crime," he said.