The Police Service of Northern Ireland has delivered the lowest crime rate in Northern Ireland for six years and a clear-up rate better than the UK average, Chief Constable Hugh Orde has claimed.
Publishing crime figures for the year to April in Belfast yesterday, Mr Orde said he was "pleased to see [ trends] going in the right direction".
However, included among the encouraging data was an admission that race-related crime in Northern Ireland has spiralled from 226 in 2002/03 to 813 in the 12 months just ended.
Homophobic crime also rose dramatically, from just 35 in 2002/03 to 196 currently.
Mr Orde, accompanied yesterday by Asst Chief Constable Judith Gillespie, welcomed the trends that emerged from the crime statistics. These include a 7.7 per cent drop in overall crime which, according to Mr Orde, translates into 1,642 fewer houses burgled and 10,000 fewer victims in general.
He said reforms in the police service enacted since he became chief constable in 2002 contributed to the downward trend. These included the devolution of control away from police headquarters in Belfast to district commander level. Mr Orde believes a reduction in the number of police districts, currently at 29, would further assist the fight against crime.
"The PSNI's job is to make Northern Ireland safer. We do that by reducing the level of crime," he said.
"These results show that the police are doing their job and doing it well." Referring to racist and homophobic crime, he added: "Despite these significant results, there is still much work to do. A number of areas still give us cause for concern and we will be focusing more on these in the current year."
Asst Chief Constable Gillespie outlined plans to tackle racist crime. Measures included increased reporting, either through a third party or online; a new PSNI hate crime policy; an audit of the force's internal training procedures; minority liaison officers in every district; advertising campaigns and interpreter services.
Prof Desmond Rea, chairman of the Policing Board which runs the PSNI, said the statistics in general were "extremely encouraging". Yesterday's report precedes today's expected publication of the latest report by the Independent Monitoring Commission. The IMC, which reports on current levels of paramilitary activity, is expected to report that the IRA is still recruiting and training members.