Ely is the safest place to live in the county according to latest figures.

Ely Standard: Ely is one of the safest places to live in the county according to crime figuresEly is one of the safest places to live in the county according to crime figures (Image: Archant)

The city had half the number of crimes reported compared to the county average.

The news has been welcomed by mayor Councillor Ian Lindsay who said the force needed praise for taking their community policing seriously.

“They provide a visible presence as much as possible and have blitzes on crime issues like the local purse thief target project recently held on the market place,” he said.

“The message we hear at police talks is that crime rates are low.

Ely Standard: Crime figures for Cambridgeshire per thousand populationCrime figures for Cambridgeshire per thousand population (Image: Archant)

“There is crime, of course, speed merchants, thefts, car crime, but we do not suffer spates of major crime.

“Long may it continue and we should give praise where praise is due to our local force who take their community responsibilities seriously and do a great job policing our streets.”

In Ely there are 29.38 crimes per thousand population compared to the average in the rest of Cambridgeshire of 58.59 per thousand.

It is nearly three times less crime compared to Cambridge city which has 86.35 and Peterborough which had 88.46 committed per thousand population.

The figures, compiled from force figures on website Police UK, cover a 12 month period from 2015 to the end of March 2016.

Ely was designated the third most peaceful place in Britain in a 10 year study which said it is consistently ranked as one of the best places to live in Britain.

The study said it was in the top most peaceful local authorities in the country with scores based on levels of violent crime, homicide, public disorder, weapons crime and the number of police.

The study is carried out every decade and was published in 2013 by the Institute of Economics and Peace.

Crime Figures.