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Crime figures are falling due to the crime prevention measures taken by residents, according to the director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.

Richard Garside claims burglaries and home insurance
claims are falling because people are making their homes more secure.

He was responding to comments made by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair in which he claimed some people in London now felt safe enough to 'leave their door open'.

Mr Garside said there was evidence to suggest that some local crime had fallen but expressed his belief that this was likely to be as much down to the actions of residents as police policy.

"If burglaries have fallen the very fact that we don't go out and leave our doors unlocked… and that when you're looking at breaking into people's homes there is much less that's marketable in terms of what you can nick than was maybe the case in the past… are maybe some of the reasons why burglary has been falling," said Mr Garside on BBC Radio Four's PM programme.

A report by the BBC has found that despite Sir Ian Blair's claims, many residents in London still live in fear of crime.

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