What ever you think might be happening to levels of crime, here are the facts. The best measure of crime is the British Crime Survey – it does not simply rely on crimes being reported and it also includes measures of the fear of crime that people feel. Here is what the latest figures from the Survey say:

For the year that ended in December 2007, all crime is down by 6%, vandalism is down by 8%, vehicle-related thefts are down by 10% and thefts from households are down by 5%. Not only that, the risk of being a victim of crime is 1% and the chance of being a victim of crime is now at its lowest level since the survey began in 1981.

Labour came to power in 1997. Since then the survey says overall crime is down 32%, domestic burglary is down 55%, all vehicle-related thefts are down by 52%, all household crime is down 33%, violence reported to the Survey is down 31% and all personal crime is down 32%.

Of course, what I say is the ‘best’ measure of crime might be me being selective with the figures. So what do levels of ‘reported crime’ tell us about crime in England and Wales?

For the last quarter of 2007 compared with one year earlier, reported cases of violence against the person are 10% down, sexual offences are 8% down, robbery is 21% down and criminal damage is 17% down. In fact the only category of crime that has not gone down is that of drug offences which show a 20% increase because the police had a crackdown on cannabis related offences during 2007.

This is a great record and the police and all the other people who have worked so hard to achieve it need to be congratulated. And since the Government always takes the blame if crime goes up, they are also entitled to take their fair share of the credit for this news.

Of course, none of this makes a difference if you are still afraid to go out at night or are worrying about your own community. That is why the roll out of neighbourhood policing and police community support officers (PCSOs) is going to be so vital here in Thanet. Neighbourhood policing will drive down crime further but the very visible presence of neighbourhood teams, and the ability of PCSOs to spend time with people who are worried about what is happening in their street, will also have a dramatic impact on the perception of crime.

And since the roll out of PCSOs and neighbourhood policing has been driven and funded by the Government, frequently in the face of opposition from other parties and vested interests, the Government should be given credit for that initiative too.