by ISABEL COE

Crime is up more than 17 per cent in Barnet and robbery figures have almost doubled since last year. This was the damning news which faced Barnet's top officer on Tuesday.

The long-awaited crime figures show that robbery offences in Barnet are up from 552 last year to 878 this year.

Chief Superintendent John Yates said: 'We have a clear-up rate of 40 per cent for violent crimes against the person, which is the fifth highest clear-up rate in London.' But I am not going to be happy unless it's at 100 per cent,'

Ch Supt Yates admitted that Barnet's weak point was still burglary, despite a decrease on last year, and motor vehicle crime ,, with a total of more than 5,000 offences ,, but he remained positive.

'Looking at it against the rest of the capital, Barnet comes out pretty well, but I am not complacent. Street crime, burglary and auto crime are still our top priorities and I hope our community safety unit shows that people can feel confident coming to this borough and reporting crime.'

Ch Supt Yates said the rising tide of first-time offenders committing violent crimes will make building up a database of known offenders harder.

Tory councillor John Marshall branded the figures 'a crushing indictment of the Labour Government'. 'Each statistic is a human tragedy,' he added.

Violent crime in Barnet is up from 3,665 recorded offences last year to 4,244 this year

Sexual offences are also up from 201 to 244

Robbery has increased significantly in the borough from 552 offences last year to 878 this year

But burglary has seen a significant decrease over the last year, from 3,845 in 1998/99 to 2,900 this year

Barnet has a 40 per cent clear-up rate for violent crime, but only a 15 per cent clear-up for robbery and eight per cent for burglary