DORSET Police have defended crime figures which show an increase for the first time in 18 years.

Sexual offences, robbery and violence are all up on last year.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show overall reports of crime in Dorset rose eight per cent from 35,799 reports in 2014 to 40,110 offences last year.

But Deputy Chief Constable James Vaughan said the figures reflect a national trend as well as changes to the way the force has started recording crime.

Almost half of the crimes recorded by Dorset Police- 19,652 - were theft offences.

The figures reveal that police recorded six homicides last year and 189 robberies.

Robbery went up by 14 per cent compared to the previous year, despite a two per cent reduction in robberies nationally.

Last year, the Echo reported that from 2013 to 2014, crime fell for the 17th year in a row- now that trend has been broken.

Reports of sexual offences have risen by 24 per cent, with 1,098 sexual offences recorded in the county compared to 884 in 2014.

Crimes of ‘violence without injury’ rose the most, with an increase of 69 per cent from 3,277 in 2014 to 5,546 last year.

However, recorded levels of some crimes did fall, with burglary falling by one per cent and domestic burglary falling by four percent.

Drug offences saw a national decrease of 16 percent but increased 14 percent to 1723 in Dorset, up from 1,503 in 2014.

Possession of weapons also sharply increased by 34 percent from 166 in 2014 to 222 in 2015.

Deputy Chief Constable James Vaughan added: "We have placed a particular focus on ensuring that the significant work that Dorset Police and partners do to protect and safeguard vulnerable people, such as victims of domestic abuse, is better reflected in the reported crime figures.

"Our first focus will always be to safeguard vulnerable people and conduct good quality investigations but we have accepted that we need to place more emphasis on our administrative reporting responsibilities as well."

He said this had resulted in an "artificial spike" in lower level violence offences, while the force's 'victim-led approach' meant more people were reporting crimes.

The rise is violent offences 'did not reflect any significant change in criminal activity in Dorset', while general incidents and anti-social behaviour continue to fall.

He said: “Whilst I’m satisfied that overall the number of incidents in Dorset is falling in line with a very long-term trend; I am concerned that the complexity of our work is increasing every year.

"For instance we are more likely to investigate cases of child abuse, sexual crimes or cyber-attacks than the more traditional crimes such as theft and burglary. These changing dimensions of crime create new challenges for the Force in the face of reduced resources.

"Dorset has a historic low level of robbery and it remains an offence that is relatively rare in the county.

"The numbers are low and minor fluctuations can have a big impact on statistics.

"Robbery is a very serious crime and Dorset Police take a very robust response with senior and experienced detectives deployed to tackle these offences."