CRIME rocketed by a quarter in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale - but a police chief today urged residents to look at the long-term picture.

Violent crime soared 65 per cent, burglaries by 13 per cent and vehicle crime two-and-a-half per cent in the Pennine Division in figures released today for the period April 2003 to March 2004.

But Superintendent Steve Hartley said that over five years crime was down substantially.

He believes the division will hit government target next year for reducing burglary by over 20 per cent and that several prolific offenders were responsible for vehicle crime rise.

Mr Hartley added: "Sometimes you have cycles of crime. But over two years we have seen a 25 per cent reduction in burglary.

"The figures need to be put into context and we are in a fantastic cycle for reducing crime."

Detective Superintendent Mike Barton said the violent crime increase was due to complying with the National Crime Recording Standard, which is designed to ensure different forces' performance can be compared.

The past year is the first time Lancashire has used the standard, however next year the figures should have levelled out.

He added: "We used to record anti-social behaviour as an incident rather than a crime and police didn't take it as seriously as we do now.

"But we now record anti-social behaviour like threatening people or harassment as violent crime rather than an incident.

"This doesn't mean we are having more cases, it just means we are putting them on a different computer."

He also revealed that admissions of people assaulted to local hospitals had remained the same.

In addition, the British Crime Survey, which has measured people's experience of crime in the same way for two decades, shows that violent crime is down three per cent in figures also released today.

Burnley MP Peter Pike said: "I think there is some truth in what the police are saying. However, violent crime is a major concern to many and it is an issue which needs to be addressed."

Some 27 per cent of crimes in Lancashire were detected, four per cent above the national average.