THE fear of crime can affect everybody’s daily life. For some people, the perception of crime can be a strong disincentive against leading a normal, active life.

I would never want anyone to be careless about their own personal safety, but I think it is worth saying that the number of recorded crimes have fallen by more than 10 per cent since 2010. What is also the case is that the number of crimes has fallen in every police force area in England and Wales.

The 2012/13 figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales showed a 9 per cent decrease since March 2012. The Office for National Statistics says that crime is at its lowest since 1981 (when the survey was introduced) and that it is less than half of the peak level of 1995.

In Thames Valley, our police area, the overall fall is 11 per cent.

I hope that this will help people feel more secure about their own safety. The perception can be that older people are more vulnerable, yet a victim of crime is more likely to come from the 16-24 age group. 11 per cent of this age group reported they had been a victim of personal crime, compared with 1.3 per cent of those aged 75 and over. All in all, 5.2 per cent of all adults were victims of personal crime.

Crimes in which violence was used have fallen by 4 per cent.

Crimes of vandalism have fallen by 13 per cent. Thefts of vehicles are down by 15 per cent, while there have also been falls in the number of burglaries (down 8 per cent) and robberies (down by 13 per cent).

We must not and cannot be complacent, but I think we should commend our police officers who are concentrating on tackling crime and making things safer for us all.