HERTFORDSHIRE remains the third safest county in the country, despite a rise in crime during the past year, according to figures released on Tuesday.

The Home Office figures show that reported crime rose by seven per cent in the 12 month period from April 1999 to March 2000.

The main areas of increase were robberies, which increased by 68 per cent, and violent crime, which increased by 15 per cent.

In other areas there were fewer reported incidents, such as burglary, which fell by 2.4 per cent, and vehicle crime, which fell by 6.4 per cent.

The overall increase in Hertfordshire mirrored similar increases across the country and left the county as one of the safest places to live.

Hertfordshire's Chief Constable Mr Paul Acres said: 'With its low crime rate, our county continues to be a safe place to live and work.

'We recognise, however, that there is work to be bring crime down in the county.

'Our priority is to ensure that our communities can feel safe and be safe, and we will aim to achieve this by providing a greater police presence on the streets of Hertfordshire.

'It is encouraging to see that many of the crimes that the public are most concerned about continue to fall.

'And it is the work of the police, other agencies and the public that has achieved these good results.

'There is always room for improvement, however, and we will be focusing our efforts in the coming months on areas where we have seen an increase of crime, particularly robberies.'

The largest increase in robberies was in the Watford/Three Rivers area where, between January and March this year, 53 offences were reported, compared to 18 for the same period last year.

But since March this year Hertfordshire Constabulary has allocated more officers to Watford/Three Rivers and has seen a 66 per cent reduction in robberies.

The publication of the crime figures has coincided with the announcement that 45 extra community officers could be patrolling Hertfordshire's streets by the end of the year - provided they can be recruited.

The figures also dealt with police clear- up rates and these show Watford's police solve less than one in ten of car crimes and about two in ten of all crimes committed in the town.

The statistics show that of the 4,580 crimes reported to Watford and Three Rivers police between April 1999 and March 2000, 1,062 have been cleared up - about 23 per cent.

The best results are for violent assaults against people and sexual offences, both of which have about 70 per cent clear-up rates.

About 22 per cent of robberies have been cleared up and 10 per cent of burglaries. The figures for car crime show that 16 per cent of vehicle thefts have been cleared up and five per cent of thefts from vehicles.

In response to the figures, a police spokesman said: 'There are areas for improvement and we have been looking at ways we can cut these crimes and improve clear-up rates.'

dallen@london.newsquest.co.uk

One of the recent changes which the police hope will improve clear-up rates was the introduction, in April, of DNA sampling of all people taken into custody.

'We take all crime seriously and we are aware that home burglaries and vehicle crime are areas of public concern.