A CRIME Commissioner has praised policing staff for helping to ensure North Yorkshire remains the safest county in the country despite an overall rise in recorded crime.

Latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics on ‘Crime in England and Wales : year ending September 2019’, show that North Yorkshire remains the lowest crime area in England and Wales despite a 12 per cent rise in recorded offences.

There were a total of 47,368 crimes in the county during the 12-month period, giving a crime rate of 57.5 per 1,000 of the population.

This is the lowest nationally and is significantly lower than the average of 84.6 per 1,000 across England and Wales.

North Yorkshire Crime Commissioner, Julia Mulligan praised 'hard-working' police officers and staff but said she remained concerned about the higher than average increases in crimes being recorded across the county.

Chief Constable Lisa Winward, North Yorkshire Police said: “Our ongoing piece of work to improve how we record crime, and also detect and investigate offences, naturally influences the county’s crime levels however this has been a top priority for the force to ensure victims continue to feel confident about reporting offences to us.

“My thanks go to each and every one of our officers, staff and volunteers for their continuous hard work, our partners whose role is vital in helping us protect people, and members of the public for their support.

“Despite our national position, we are not complacent and our focus is on improving early intervention and prevention across the service to reduce harm in our communities.”