Her comments came at the latest meeting in public of the District Policing Partnership in the Braid, last Thursday night.

She revealed that overall crime in the Ballymena area fell substantially over the past year (-16.6%), that there was a significant reduction in the number of violent crimes and that police clearance rates had risen impressively.

Area Commander, Chief Inspector, Barbara Gray said a "tremendous effort" had been put into policing over 2007-2008 and that this standard would continue.

"If crime continues to reduce in this manner there would be no crime in five to eight years," said the Chief Inspector, adding: "but, that is not a realistic target".

The meeting heard that crime had fallen in almost all categories including offences against the person (down 14.2% year on year), sexual offences (down 25.6%), burglary and domestic burglary (down 12%), robbery (down 52%), fraud and forgery (down 51.4%), criminal damage (down 16.9%), and violent crime (down almost 20%).

And the Chief Inspector stated also that Local and Area Policing Plan targets had been met and met well.

These included - the reduction in the total number of crimes by two per cent which had been substantially exceeded with the achievement by officers of a 16.6% reduction.

Similarly, the target to reduce the number of violent crimes by two per cent was exceeded with the achievement of a 22.3% reductio.

Other target success stories were - to reduce by two per cent the total number of violent crimes (-18%) and criminal damage (-20.2%) and to reduce domestic burglaries by three per cent (-15.1%).

Administration goals were ably met, too.

Police in Ballymena hit their targets, and more, with regard to processing 87% of both custody and bail cases within set time limits, processing 75% of indictable reported cases and processing 60% of summary reported cases within administative time limits.

Targets were also met with regard to increasing the clearance rate for racist hate crime and to increase the number of drugs supply crime gangs, frustrated, disrupted or dismantled.

The Chief Inspector said that the disruption of drugs possession and supply at any level by confiscation of drugs or arrest and charge continued to be a "major priority" for police in the Ballymena area.

She reported that from April, last year, to March 31, 2008, local officers had contributed to disrupting the drugs trade and added that...

* Over 114 house searches had been conducted.

* Over 379 stop and searches had been carried out.

* Over 111 arrests, encompassing drugs classes a, b and c, and including possession, supply and cultivation had been made.

The total number of arrests, she added, were up 34% on last year while the 132 drugs seizures made represented an increase of 14.3% year on year.