reveal.

Yesterday Police blamed the rise on people seeking easy cash to satisfy a drugs craving.

"There is a thirst for drugs, and we have noticed an increased use of heroin,'' Acting Police Commissioner Mr. Alex Forbes told The Royal Gazette .

Police reserves had been called in to help combat break-ins -- and had proved successful so far, said Mr. Forbes.

In the first nine months of this year there have been 935 break-ins at houses, stores, offices and other properties.

This is 48.78 percent up on 1993's total of 623 for the same period.

It is also significantly higher than figures for 1992 (595), 1991 (716), and 1990 (658).

The statistics do not give a breakdown on which crimes related to guest houses and hotels. Police hope to provide these details in future.

Handbag snatches -- traditionally a crime against visitors -- have also soared over the last five years.

So far this year there have been 66 reported cases as against just 16 in 1993.

Mr. Forbes told a press conference yesterday rises in break-ins and snatches were a "disturbing trend.'' They were black spots in statistics which revealed offences between January 1 and September 30 generally had gone down from 4,663 in 1993 to 3,744 this year.

Figures for other years were: 3,358 (1992), 4,087 (1991), and 4,347 (1990).

Mr. Forbes pointed to a drop in the number of reported drug offences.

So far this year there had been 191 offences as against 297 in 1993.

This, however, did not mean drugs were on the decrease. In fact, the amount of drugs seized had risen dramatically, he stressed.

On a more encouraging note, Mr. Forbes said there had been a 20 percent drop in crimes against property, which included forgery, embezzlement, and larceny.

Shoplifting -- included in this category -- had slipped from 147 to 83 over last year.

Mr. Forbes went on to outline steps Police had taken to combat offences against visitors.

Among them was a new initiative with the Reserve Constabulary -- public-spirited volunteers.

Reserves had gone out on night-time patrols in unmarked Police vehicles.

"Since they have been on this particular exercise breaking and enterings against tourist properties have gone down,'' he said.

There were just three such crimes in the last two and a half weeks -- a dramatic drop.

"We are deeply indebted to the service of volunteers who are dedicated to preventing crime.'' Mr. Forbes said the Crime Prevention Officer was willing to give advice to people, and had recently spoken to a group of hoteliers.

Using security guards was one way of tackling crime, Mr. Forbes continued.

"Security guards have been instrumental in assisting us to make arrests.'' Mr. Forbes said Police had recently met with Government over strengthening the Force by "civilianisation.'' It was hoped civilians could do Airport jobs, allowing more officers to patrol the streets.