VIOLENT crime increased more in Cheshire than any other region in the North West according to police figures.

The latest annual statistics released by the Home Office show that violent crime rose by 18.9% since 2004/5.

However, Cheshire Police say they are catching more criminals.

A Crackdown on Crime initiative was launched in September to tackle the rising number of crimes being recorded.

And a reduction of 10.5% was achieved compared to the level of crime recorded at the beginning of the year.

Assistant Chief Constable David Baines said: 'I know the public will be concerned about the rise in violent crime. But it is in the lower level crimes like harassment and common assault where the police are seeing the highest rises.

'I would like to reassure the public that serious violent offences are not committed every day in Cheshire and that the county remains a very safe place in which to live and work.

'Last year we took positive action to address the problems of anti-social behaviour on our streets.

'To improve street standards, officers were tasked with intervening in incidents of yobbish behaviour unacceptable in today's society.

'As a consequence, the number of fixed penalty tickets issued for violent crime offences nearly doubled last year to enforce these standards. This positive action has impacted on the number of lower level violent crimes recorded last year.'