WILTSHIRE Police's crackdown on drug crime has paid dividends as with latest figures showing that it fell 17 per cent last year compared with a national rise of 16 per cent.

This follows the force's Operations Ardent and Claire last September when known drug dealers across North Wiltshire and Kennet districts were targeted. Many received jail sentences and police say this is an indication of how their methods are cracking crime.

Acting Assistant Chief Constable Andy Tatam said: "Wiltshire Constabulary remains heavily committed to the fight against serious drugs crime.

"This is where our focus has to be and as well as adopting the usual methods of arrest and charging, we continue to make full use of new legislation in relation to our seizing cash and other assets from suspected drug dealers.

"Operations Ardent and Claire made a significant difference to the fight against drugs crime, the execution of a sizeable number of warrants leading to significant sentences."

Although the war against class A drugs, such as heroin and crack cocaine, remains static as far as the figures are concerned, the force hopes that the effects of Operations Ardent and Claire will be felt more next year because the "major players" are now out of the picture.

The successful war against drugs, however, is balanced by large increases in reported crime in the county in the last 12 months.

The total number of crimes recorded in the county went up from 38,883 to 44,225, an increase of 14 per cent compared with a national increase of seven per cent.

The force is anxious to point out, however, that the new National Crime Recording Standard has considerably affected the figures as police officers are obliged to record incidents that normally wouldn't be.

For example, though burglaries went up from 5,835 to 6,242 this, they claim, arises from their urging local people to report distraction burglaries, when callers posing as bogus council officials try to enter the homes of older people.

Similarly, the huge rise in violent crime, from 5,066 to 7,313, or 44 per cent, is caused by police officers recording every minor street scuffle where before they would normally warn both parties and let it go at that.

The number of street robberies has also increased by nine per cent because of the increased theft of mobile phones, mainly from young people by other young people.

But the force continues to maintain that Wiltshire is the second safest county in England and Wales, next only to Surrey. Its overall detection rate, at 28 per cent, is four per cent higher than the national average and places the county fourth highest in its "family of forces", including Gloucestershire, West Mercia, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.

Andy Tatam added: "The figures show that Wiltshire continues to compare very favourably against the rest of the country."