The month of June saw the lowest number of burglaries in Lewisham since current records began, police say.

There were 166 burglary offences reported to Lewisham Police last month making it the lowest since current records started in April 1997.

Overall, the number of Lewisham burglaries fell by almost 1,000 between June 2012 to June 2013 where 3,758 were reported, compared to 2,761 from June last year to June this year.

Officers say the drop is due to measures including better staff forensic training, prompt attendance by scene examiners, as well as working with second-hand shops to spot stolen items and report them.

Other work has included burglary prevention advice to hotspot areas and giving support to former burglars released from prison to stop them reoffending.

Speaking of the fall in burglaries, Chief Inspector Graham Price said: “This is due to the concentrated and focused activities by police and partners on addressing this challenging area of police work.

“Together with London Borough of Lewisham, the charity Victim Support and the Probation Service we have worked to improve the burglary rates on this borough and to reduce the offence and sustain that reduction.

“Overall, crime in Lewisham is down and confidence and satisfaction levels as recorded by independent surveys are starting to increase."