THE number of robberies being committed across North Somerset has gone up more than 40 per cent with less than one in five of the culprits being brought to justice

THE number of robberies being committed across North Somerset has gone up more than 40 per cent with less than one in five of the culprits being brought to justice.The local policing summary, a document produced by Avon and Somerset Constabulary, shows theft of and from motor vehicles and household crime are also on the increase.A total of 128 robberies were committed between April 2006 and 2007, compared to 90 in the previous year. The target set by the police authority was to get the figure down to just under 83 incidents over that period.At the same time the detection rate for North Somerset was just 21.8 per cent.District commander, chief superintendent Kay Wozniak, said: "The issue is that the actual number of crimes year by year is quite similar but a small difference gives a big percentage."A 42 per cent increase in burglary looks horrendous. It's still 38 too many more crimes but the number is quite small when you consider crimes in other towns and cities across the region."In regard to the detection rate, this is the number of people who are taken past interview stage and charged. This does not include people who have not been charged but have been caught by the police."We are not the prosecution agency. That is the responsibility of the Crown Prosecution Service."The future looks promising. Our average detection rate from April 1 to now is over 30 per cent."Domestic burglary rates have dropped from 743 incidents in 2005/06 to 616 in 2006/07. But the number of these crimes being detected has gone down nearly nine per cent as well.Theft of motor vehicles has gone up more than seven per cent with detection rates going down nearly five per cent while theft from vehicles has increased nearly 12 per cent over the same period.The detection rate for these crimes is the only one to have increased and this was by just 0.1 per cent.