SCOTTISH crime continued its unrelenting downward trend this summer.
Headline figures for overall recorded crime was 6.9 per cent in April-October 2014 than in the same six months of the previous year.
But serious violence fell even faster, by 8.1 per cent to 3156 incidents, a figure that has plummeted from 5842 from the summer of 2009.
However, the number of reported sex crimes - as in recent years - rose slightly, by 2.5 per cent to 4675.
That meant that so-called Group 2 sex crimes outnumbered Group 1 violent crimes for the second summer in a row, reflecting historic shifts in recorded offending.
Assistant Chief Constable Malcolm Graham attributed rising sex crime figures to greater confidence in the police. Rape reports alone rose 4 per cent in the six months.
He said: "The increase in victims of current and historical crimes now coming to the police is in the knowledge they will be treated sensitively, believed and their complaint will be investigated thoroughly.
"Our victim centred approach has resulted in more effective investigations. Last year there were over 1600 reports of rape to police and this year has seen an increase again."
Police currently "detect" 72.9 per cent of all rapes, just short of their 73 per cent target. That means they identify a perpetrator in nearly three-quarters of cases. Conviction figures are far lower.
The new figures, which will be presented to the force's ruling board, the Scottish Police Authority on Wednesday, also show a huge 38.5 per cent drop in the number of stop-and-searches carried out this summer compared with last.
There were 231,464 in April-October with 23 per cent of them deemed to be "positive", three percentage points higher than last year.
Assistant Chief Constable Wayne Mawson repeated his denial that Police Scotland had set stop-and-search targets and insisted the controversial target helped produce current low crime levels.
He said: "Stop-search preventative successes can be judged through reductions in violent crime, anti-social behaviour and disorder in areas where the tactic is used."
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