the same period last year.

Although overall crime fell by 1.2 percent in the second quarter of this year, the number of woundings, sexual assaults, robberies and attempted robberies all rose dramatically.

In total crimes of violence rose by a massive 14.6 percent. And the figure would have been higher had it not been for a 400 percent drop in firearms offences -- in the second three months of 1997 four firearms offences were committed -- this year there were none.

The number of sexual assaults jumped from nine last year to 14 this year, robberies increased by 50 percent from eight to 12 and attempted robberies were up from two to five.

There were also small increases in the number of assaults on Police and woundings.

The quarter also saw a massive increase in the number of break-ins.

Burglaries were up by 57 percent while the number of school break-ins doubled from eight last year to 17 this year - a massive 112.5 percent increase.

The only good news for Police Commissioner Jacques Lemay is that thefts from the person and hotels and store breaking were all down significantly. The number of cases of sexual exploitation of young people also fell from six in the second quarter of last year to just two this year.

Last night neither Public Safety Minister Maxwell Burgess nor his Opposition Shadow Alex Scott could be contacted to discuss the grim findings.

But a Police spokeswoman confirmed that acts of violence were giving Police cause for concern.

"We remain concerned with violent crime figures that have consistently shown increases. This is particularly true of sexual assaults, robberies and attempted robberies,'' the spokeswoman said.

"The silver lining lies in the fact that, for each of these categories, Police can report a detection rate for the majority of these cases.

"Increases in violently resisting arrest offences can also be viewed positively in that figures are beginning to reflect the significant activity of units such as the task force.

Breaking offences are up by just over three percent for the second quarter and again the career criminal and opportunistic crime factors recently featured in the media are largely responsible.

"Police would urge members of the public to continue to exercise vigilance and common sense by not leaving doors and windows unsecured when homes or vehicles are unoccupied and by not leaving valuables around in plain sight to tempt thieves. Police would also continue to advise against hiding large sums of cash in homes without the added security of a wall or floor safe.'' CRIME CRM