POLICE are pledging a continued crackdown on criminals after figures revealed crimes of violence against people in Princes Risborough soared over the last year.

While incidents of criminal damage and car crime in the town fell by 12.3 per cent, the number of recorded crimes of violence against people rocketed.

Sgt Gordon Wilkins, of Princes Risborough police, said he was pleased with the fall in the incidence of criminal damage, but added: "We are going to have damage all the time. It is a sad fact of life.

Although the total number of crimes of violence against people rocketed by 112.15 per cent in a year, he said, the figures did not mean the streets of the town were any the less safe.

He added: "When I saw these figures I took a deep breath but the vast majority of these incidents are domestic incidents.

"We are now recording, far more accurately, domestic disputes between partners."

Many of the assaults the police were now recording were as a result of disputes between neighbours and assaults on the football pitch, he said, and did not occur in the street.

He continued: "When I analysed the 112.15 per cent rise, it is not that the streets of Risborough are becoming more dangerous. It is more to do with the fact that we are recording crimes better."

The figures also show a staggering rise in the number of drugs offences in Princes Risborough.

Sgt Wilkins said an increase in the number of arrests contributed to the 200 per cent rise in drugs offences.

"Arrests for drugs offences have gone up in leaps and bounds," he said.

The police crime figures represent the number of crimes dealt with by the police or reported to them. They are not crimes that are dealt with by the courts.

The report also praised the "major improvement" in police response times although said they were still not as good as they should be.