Community Safety. Our area has a lower crime rate than other parts of Scotland with only 642 crimes recorded per 10,000 population in 2007/08 compared to a Scottish figure of 749 and the rate fell by 4% compared to the previous year. Almost all types of crime are below the Scotland average, for example, the rate of domestic housebreaking was 28 per 10,000 households compared to 34 per 10,000 households in Scotland as a whole. The clear up rate for crimes is well above the Scottish average, with 57% of all crimes being cleared up, compared to only 48% of all Scottish crimes solved. Vandalism was one of the most frequently reported crimes but numbers are falling, from 3,118 incidents in 2006/07 to 2,772 in 2007/08. More people in our area are satisfied with what local agencies are doing to tackle anti-social behaviour (45%) than in Scotland as a whole (39%). Fear of crime is often higher than actual crime. While this can sometimes be a reflection of national issues rather than local problems, we understand the impact it has on individuals and communities. In 2008, 89% of residents in the Falkirk area said that they feel very or fairly safe in their local area during the day although this dropped to 51% at night. Both these figures represent an improvement compared to the survey carried out two years previously. Along with the rest of Great Britain, road accident and casualty numbers have been decreasing since the latter peaked in 1966. In the Falkirk Council area, an average of 105 road users were seriously injured or killed per year in the period 1994-1998. By the period 2003-2007, however, the average had fallen by 30% to 73 per year. The rate of accidental dwelling fires per 10,000 population in our area is consistently below the Scottish average. In 2007/08 the rate in our area was 5.68 compared to over 7.5 in 2006/07. In addition the rate of wilful fires and hoax 999 calls are reducing. We have worked closely with young people in our area to understand the impact of fire raising and have a number of thriving youth intervention programmes.
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