Incidents of domestic abuse across Dumfries and Galloway have risen by more than 10 per cent.
And reported hate crime has gone up by almost one-third, with a significant increase in drink and drug driving also recorded.
The figures are revealed in the annual police performance report, which will be presented to the council’s police, fire and rescue sub committee later this month.
In the report, Divisional Commander Chief Superintendent Carol McGuire says there were 16,250 crimes and offences in 2022/23, down 11.9 per cent on the five year average.
The number of incidents also fell from the average of 40,127 to 37,629.
But one area where there has been an increase is domestic abuse.
There were 1,512 incidents recorded in 2022/23, up 11.8 per cent on the average.
However, only 746 “resulted in crimes having been committed” – down 5.8 per cent on the five year average.
Sexual crime is down 4.8 to 469 with rape crimes increasing by 7.6 per cent to seven .
Sexual assault is down 5.9 per cent on the average to 178 crimes, with missing person incidents up more than 20 per cent on the average to 1,167.
The report also reveals that 153 hate crimes were recorded, an increase of 32.4 per cent on the five year average.
Violent crime fell by 12.6 per cent to 1,587, with the report revealing “serious assaults and robberies are at six year lows”. The same applies to common assault crimes, which are down 13.4 per cent on the average to 1,284.
Disorder complaints and antisocial behaviour complaints are both down by more than 13 per cent on the previous year. Antisocial behaviour is down more than 15 per cent on the five year average.
Overall acquisitive crime, such as theft, is “at a six year low”, with 2,115 crimes down 9.1 per cent on the five year average.
Housebreaking has fallen from 237 cases in 2021/22 to 194 cases last year.
However, fraud is up with 440 cases representing an increase of nearly a quarter on the five year average. Shoplifting is up more than 13 per cent on the average to 605.
Crimes targeting motor vehicles is down by a quarter on the average to 169.
Drug deaths rose from 29 in 2021 to 34 in 2022. There were 992 drug possession charges in 2022/23, down 4.7 per cent against the average, with drug supply down more than eight per cent to 134.
The number of people killed on the region’s roads fell from 11 in 2021/22 to five in 2022/23. Serious injuries fell from 83 to 70 with slight injuries up from 133 to 147. Five children were injured, compared to three the previous year.
Drink or drug driving cases rose from 180 in 2021/22 to 314 last year with speeding offences dropping significantly from 2,922 to 1,892.
CS McGuire’s report concludes there were a total of 221 complaints recorded in 2022/23, an increase of 14.5 per cent on the three year average.
The report will be presented to members of the police, fire and rescue sub committee on June 15.
