POLICE have attributed a massive fall in reported burglaries to their improved scientific methods for detecting crimes.

POLICE have attributed a massive fall in reported burglaries to their improved scientific methods for detecting crimes.

New figures released by Edmonton police show a fall from 505 burglaries reported in January to 288 in August; a fall of more than 200 burglaries every month in Enfield this year.

Chief Inspector Tony MacRae said burglars were now aware of how quickly they can be caught and dealt with by police.

'The success is because of much better scenes of crime preservation and the quicker turn around of scientific tests.

'We have more advanced forensic techniques which means we can get suspects arrested, to court and prison more quickly.

'The message we want to send is that people who go out and commit burglary can expect to get caught.'

Chief Inspector MacRae said active burglars who may have got away with 20 to 50 crimes could be stopped earlier on.

He said uniformed officers were more aware of important forensic evidence at crime scenes because of their training.

'Burglars are now aware that they run the risk of getting longer sentences because if they don't admit to a crime when they are arrested, it can be detected later on.

'We advise them to tell us about all the crimes they have committed or else they could spend longer in jail.'