Crime figures show there was a slight drop in crime in the Western Bay of Plenty in 2014 compared to the previous year.

Figures from the New Zealand Police show Western Bay Police recorded 11,179 offences in 2014 – a 0.4 per cent reduction from the 11,223 recorded in 2013.

Crime is down slightly in the Western Bay of Plenty.

The number of cases resolved by police increased from 6131 cases in 2013 to 6352 in 2014.

For the entire Bay of Plenty, the crime rate dropped 3.6 per cent.

In 2013, there were 31,433 crimes recorded compared to the 30,288 in 2014.

Nationally, criminal offences dropped by 2.8 per cent last ear.

There were 350,389 recorded offences in 2014, compared to 360,411 in 2013.

When adjusted for population growth, this means criminal offences per head of population dropped by 4.2 per cent.

Acting Deputy Commissioner Grant Nicholls says today's release is the final edition of the Recorded and Resolved Offence Statistics, with the new Recorded Crime Victimisation Statistics (RCVS) now in operation.

'The RCVS are a data-set of crime statistics with better and more detailed information about victims,” says Grant.

'They provide valuable insight into demographic attributes of victims including the relationship between victim and offender.

'RCVS also creates a more detailed picture of intimate partner violence, child assaults (physical and sexual) and elder abuse.”

Grant says sexual assault and related offences remains a major concern, with recorded offences rising 3.5 per cent in the 2014 calendar year.

'We believe that historically, sexual violence has been under-reported to authorities,” he adds.

'Police are heartened that victims of this type of crime are coming forward and we want to assure them that police take all complaints of sexual violence seriously.

'The RCVS is giving us more detailed information about sexual violence and we are using this information to try and prevent and reduce victimisation.”

The RCVS began on July 1 last year and the first set of data was released in November.

It is now updated at the end of each month on the Statistics New Zealand website.

Grant says Police have received positive feedback both internally and externally on the new victim-focused statistics.

'We are continuing to work with Statistics NZ on enhancements to and the functionality of the new statistics,” he says. 'Since the RCVS was first launched, we have already added an outcome of investigation filter.”

'This function enables the public to see how many cases have gone before the court, how many have been closed and how many are still ongoing investigations.”