The force said all but one of North Wales' 163 murders since 1974 had been solved - a record it said was unsurpassed across Wales and England. Officers are still hunting the killer of Mold postman Paul Savage, murdered almost two years ago. During the last year 41 people were killed on the region's roads, compared with 34 the increase) in robbery. The figures revealed North Wales police were solving more crime, especially burglary. The figures showed an over-all cut in crime of 10% - among the highest drop across Wales and England. And the force's detection rate, at 41%, was the highest of all forces. Western division - which takes in Gwynedd and Anglesey - had the highest detection rate of all the 255 police divisions in Wales and England, at 48%. In terms of burglaries, all three of North Wales' police divisions were in the top five. House burglaries dropped 35% last year and are now at their lowest level since records began in 1974. Vehicle crime also dropped 22%, welcomed by a force spokeswoman as "a significantly reduced bureaucratic burden on the police". Two major sets of crime figures were released nationally yesterday - official government recorded crime figures and the 2003 Crime and Justice Survey. Government figures show crime in Wales and England was up 6% in the third quarter of last year - but overall murder figures were down for the first time since 1996. And there are more criminals than previously estimated. A quarter of boys in Wales and England aged 14 to 17 are prolific or serious offenders, the government research revealed. | 
