Keighley's police chief has spoken out to reassure the public about its safety.

Chief Supt Graham Sunderland -- in an exclusive interview with the Keighley News -- said the town was a "very, very, very safe place in which to live".

And he stressed that people's chances of becoming a victim of crime were minimal.

His unprecedented comments follow a wave of damning publicity about the town in the wake of the latest national crime figures.

The annual statistics -- published by the Home Office last Friday -- show a startling rise in offences in the Keighley police division.

Robberies soared from 75 to 208, house burglaries from 1,710 to 2,270 and vehicle theft from 834 to 1,594.

But Chief Supt Sunderland said the figures took no account of changes to the division boundaries, which had been extended to include Shipley. The division already incorporated Bingley and part of the Wharfe valley.

And he added that violent crime in Keighley had actually fallen by almost 9 per cent in the past year. "This division has changed drastically in the period these Home Office figures relate to --- it is now considerably bigger," said Chief Supt Sunderland.

"The number of robberies in Keighley is in fact on its way down -- the chance of becoming a victim of robbery is one in 1,000 -- and we have also achieved a reduction in burglaries.

"Much of the increase nationally in robberies has been down to the theft of mobile phones, and we are doing a lot of work with schools in Keighley to tackle this issue."

He accepted that car crime was a major problem -- theft from vehicles rose by 18 per cent in the division last year -- but he said that in many instances motorists failed to lock their vehicles, or keep valuables out of sight.

Chief Supt Sunderland said the picture painted of Keighley, as a town awash with lawlessness, was not correct. "Keighley is becoming a no-go area for the criminal," he said.

"I always have sympathy for the people who do become victims of crime and I am not belittling anything that has gone on, but because the chances of people becoming a victim are now minimal we can concentrate our efforts."

He added that much was being achieved through working with local agencies, the council and MP Ann Cryer.

"We have got to ensure as a society that we look at social issues such as employment, housing and education which have a bearing on crime. Society has control over social issues, and we need to get these right. We can then start impacting on things that directly affect people," he said.