By Steve Bargeton, political editor

MINISTERS PLEDGED more police on the beat as new figures out yesterday showed another rise in violent crime in Scotland.

The latest crime statistics for last year showed the number of murders, attempted murders and serious assaults rose by 5% to 7504.

Total recorded crime increased from 417,785 in 2005/06 to 419,257 in 2006/07—up 1472 or 0.4%.

Violent crime was up 3% with 14,099 incidents recorded by police last year. There was a 3% rise in crimes of indecency, which went from 6588 in 2005/06 to 6726 in 2006/07 and there was a 10% rise in the number of cases of indecent assault, which went from 1508 to 1664.

There was also a 16% increase in what are termed as “offences against public justice” which includes breaching court orders and a 31% increase in the number of bail offences.

Reported rapes and attempted rape fell by 3% to 1123; crimes of dishonesty fell by 2% to 183,760 and there was a 16% drop in fraud—which went from 11,074 in 2005/06 to 9332 in 2006-07.

There was a 4% decrease in drugs offences, with police recording 42,442 compared with 44,247 in 2005/06.

Overall clear-up rates for crimes were 47%—the highest ever.

Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill said the SNP government was determined to turn the figures around.

“Dealing with crime and the fear of it requires effective front-line policing—a visible police presence that deters and detects crime and reassures communities,” he said.

“That’s why we will deliver additional policing capacity—working smarter and more efficiently where most needed—in the heart of our communities.”

Scottish Tory justice spokesman Bill Aitken said the figures showed the previous Labour and Liberal Democrat Executive had “failed miserably in cutting crime.”

He said, “Rape or attempted rape has risen by almost 50% since 1999, drug crimes by almost 40% and total offences by 21%.”

But Labour justice spokesman Margaret Curran said, “Today’s figures need to be unpicked. Due to the change in the way offences and crimes are recorded, more acts such as vandalism and driving offences are being included.”

The number of crimes recorded in Tayside in 2006/07 fell by 1%. The clear-up rate was also higher than the national average, although the crime rate in Dundee remained one of the highest in Scotland, writes Grant Smith.

Recorded crime in Fife showed no change, although the clear-up rate was also better than average.

A breakdown of the figures by police force area shows there were 29,245 crimes recorded in Tayside. That works out at 714 crimes for every 10,000 people living in the region, better than the national figure of 819 per 10,000 people.

That included 312 serious assaults, 187 robberies and 68 rapes or attempted rapes. There were 1924 break-ins to homes, with a large proportion of those happening in Dundee, and 3221 cases of shoplifting.

There were 7657 cases of vandalism and 260 of fire-raising and drug crimes totalled 3124.

At the level of individual local authorities, there were 15,512 crimes in Dundee, with 6099 in Angus and 7634 in Perth and Kinross. The clear-up rates for each area were 56%, 61% and 59% respectively, compared with the Scottish average of 47%.

Fife had 30,304 crimes recorded by the police during 2006/07, including 354 serious assaults, 124 robberies and 92 rapes or attempted rapes. There were also 2328 cases of housebreaking and 2077 of shoplifting.

Police recorded 2050 drug crimes. The clear-up rate for all crimes was 52%, above the national average.