BURY Police have reported a substantial drop in the number of houses being burgled.

Between April 1 and December 31 last year, and compared to the same period in 2002, house burglaries fell by nearly 28 per cent, from 1,785 to 1,289. Nearly ten per cent of the domestic break-ins were detected by police.

The fall in burglaries has helped Bury attain the title of the best performing police division in Greater Manchester.

A 15.3 per cent reduction has also been seen in car crime with 2,854 incidents reported to police, six per cent were detected, while robberies suffered a slight increase from 389 in 2002 to 394 last year. Bury police detected 16.2 percent of robberies.

Greater Manchester as a whole has enjoyed reductions in all three crime categories.

Superintendent Dave Wolfe, deputy commander of bury police, said: "Bury division is performing better than any other division in Greater Manchester in relation to the reduction in house burglaries.

"Robbery is on a par with last year in terms of numbers committed while car crime has seen a significant decrease."