The number of crimes solved by Sussex Police fell during the past year while burglaries rose sharply, new figures showed today.

Break-ins were up eight per cent in the year to March, compared to 2001/2.

More than 12 in every 1,000 premises were raided. But the figure still compares well with the national average of 13.8 Vehicle crime was down one per cent but robberies rose six per cent to 0.9 for every 1,000 residents. The average was again higher at 1.1.

At the same time, crimes solved went down six per cent to 18 per cent, in line with the average among the 42 other forces in England and Wales.

There was a 143 per cent increase in the number of drug pushers brought to justice, up to 1.3 per 10,000 residents.

A total of 32 forces solved fewer offences than in the previous financial year, the Home Office data shows.

By publishing a second set of complex diagrams known as "spidergrams", ministers said that detections overall had risen by eight per cent.

Police minister Hazel Blears said: "There are 1.4 million detected crimes in 2002-2003 and the number of detections is eight per cent higher than in the year before.

"So the number of detections has gone up but the amount of recorded crime has also gone up. We are detecting more in absolute terms."

The number of sanctions imposed by the courts had also risen three per cent year-on-year.

Sussex Chief Constable Ken Jones said the force was faring much better.

He said: "Compared to this time last year, we now have a 5.2 per cent reduction in overall crime, 692 fewer victims, nine per cent reduction in public place violence, 152 fewer victims, 2.5 per cent reduction in vehicle crime and a 37.3 per cent increase in car criminals caught, a record 1,015 wrongdoers arrested on the streets of Brighton and Hove in July alone."

There was now a substantial neighbourhood policing team based at Hollingbury and local policing had been fully restored to Hove.

The police performance monitors include charts showing how forces performed compared with similar ones. Sussex produced figures similar to Avon and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, Dorset, Essex and Gloucestershire.

Today's figures show burglary was up in 29 out of 43 forces. Vehicle crime was up in 23 out of the country's police forces.