A FALL in recorded crime in Lancashire was been welcomed with caution by police and crime commissioner Clive Grunshaw.

Despite a rise in the number of sex offences over the past 12 months, the overall crime rate has dropped by 2.9 per cent.

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Mr Grunshaw said: “The reduction in crime this year means an overall fall of 5.6 per cent since I came into office [three years ago] which is obviously good news and shows a good picture for Lancashire.

“While I welcome this, there are clearly some areas where there has been an increase and this is worrying both to myself and members of the panel.

“There are increases in the number of sexual offences – particularly rape cases – and this is undoubtedly linked to reporting of crimes that have taken place in the past and also as a direct result of our efforts to raise awareness of sexual exploitation and grooming.

“However this increase does worry me, especially in the light of the continuing financial pressures we face and I have already allocated an extra £1m to help clear the caseload of sexual offences from reserves.”

An annual report released by Mr Grunshaw also revealed that, despite £61m of cuts and 700 officers and 500 backroom staff being laid off in the past five years, Lancashire Police had been rated ‘outstanding’ in February.

Mr Grunshaw made £1 million available to clear a backlog of historic sex offence cases earlier this year as part of his budget process.

He said: “One of my key priorities is to champion the rights of victims and this funding means more staff have been taken on to deal with the 30 historic referrals they’ve had over the past 12 months.

“The constabulary has also been able to increase the digital team to deal with online child abuse.

“We are committed to rooting abuse out and stopping it from happening.”