By Hayley Robinson

The amount of illegal activity is falling in the majority of Sittingbourne’s wards, according to the latest crime figures.

The figures from September to November 2010 compared to the same period in 2009 reveal the Murston ward has seen the biggest drop with the overall number of reported crimes falling from 220 to 127.

Overall crime also fell in Milton Regis from 186 to 112.

Chalkwell fell from 115 to 111; Grove fell from 98 to 86; Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch fell from 91 to 66; Iwade and Lower Halstow fell from 43 to 33; Kemsley fell from 113 to 76; Roman fell from 103 to 87 and Woodstock and West Downs both fell from 29 to 26.

However, a rise in all types of crime was seen in Borden which rose from 20 to 33. St Michael’s went from nine to 13.

A further breakdown of the figures revealed all but three wards saw a decrease in the number of burglaries.

St Michael’s ward saw an increase of three, Borden went from four to five and Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch went from 12 to 14.

The biggest decrease was seen in two wards, Kemsley which went from 26 to four and Milton Regis which went from 36 to 14.

The statistics also showed robbery was up in Chalkwell by two, Grove by one and Kemsley by two but it was down or stayed the same as the previous year in all the other wards.

The biggest decrease in vehicle crime was in Kemsley from 20 to eight.

Other wards which also saw a decrease in this type of crime included Chalkwell from 14 to eight, Grove from 10 to nine, Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch from 11 to five, Iwade from 13 to five, Milton Regis from 16 to eight; Roman from eight to six and St Michael’s from two to 0.

Meanwhile the biggest rise of anti-social behaviour was seen in Kemsley ward which went from 63 to 87.

The area which saw the biggest drop was Grove ward from 89 to 77.

Violence is up in six wards – the worst being Grove ward which rose from 12 to 22.

Area commander for Mid Kent, Chief Superintendent Matthew Nix (pictured) said: "The good news is that violent crime, robbery, criminal damage and vehicle crime all continue to fall.

"There were rises in burglary, theft and drugs offences during this rolling year period but we are already seeing results from initiatives we put in place last year in response to the increases.

"Last autumn Swale was the focus of one of the largest police operations seen at Kent Police in two years, tackling the criminals that cause the community the greatest harm and we should see the positive results of those raids in the next set of Home Office statistics.

"In 2011 we plan to build on the progress made during that operation, targeting criminals running Class A drug networks and their proven links to offences such as theft, burglary and car crime."

Mr Nix said there was a spike in the number of mobile phones stolen following the release of the iPhone 4 in July 2010 and the area was already planning crime reduction initiatives when future models were released.

He said: "There are challenges ahead but we remain totally committed to reducing crime and anti-social behaviour and to improving the quality of life for the people of Maidstone and Swale."