MANCHESTER city centre is beating violent crime and bucking the national trend.

New statistics show robberies down 17 per cent and assaults down six per cent. It compares with national annual crime figures which show a 10 per cent rise in violent crime between May 1999 and May 2000. Across Greater Manchester, total crime is up four per cent but in the city centre it is down 14 per cent.

Supt Brian Wroe, commander of the city centre sub-division, said: "This decrease in crime can be put down to a number of factors, including the introduction of CCTV, the Storenet two-way radio scheme linking more than 100 shops, and the exclusion order scheme."

Police say they arrested an extra 250 criminals following the launch of CCTV cameras in the city centre in 1998, and that thugs and muggers are starting to realise it is not worth their while operating in the city. The new figures on violent crime show how the city centre has been cleaned up just two years after a spate of violent attacks.

Hundreds of assaults were reported in 1998, and 27-year-old bank worker Nick Centi became the fifth late-night reveller to be killed in 12 months. His death sparked new initiatives aimed at cutting street crime, which have now begun paying dividends. Vehicle crime is also down in the city centre by a staggering 39 per cent on last year.

Supt Wroe said: "The figures are encouraging, but its possible they could still rise again."

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