FIFE'S police chief has stated his officers have not lost their local focus as he hailed a 15% drop in violence on the region's streets.

Policing in Scotland underwent the most significant reorganisation in a generation when its eight regional forces merged to form Police Scotland on 1st April.

Chief superintendent for Fife Division Garry McEwan described the changes as “evolutionary rather than revolutionary” and will assure councillors at Fife Council's safer communities committee tomorrow that despite the huge changes officers are still striving to make the area even safer.

Other highlights from recently released crime stats for Fife include serious assaults dropping by 20% and robberies being down by 7.5%.

Chief superintendent McEwan said, “The changes introduced over the last seven months have been implemented to ensure a co-ordinated and consistent approach is applied to the investigation of a range of issues, in particular rape, domestic abuse and violent crime.

“This has not meant a loss of local focus, as the emphasis of policing in Fife remains directed at addressing local concerns.” Despite the drop in violent crime in public places, incidents of domestic abuse rocketed 88% compared to last year, with 2,113 reported cases in 2012-13.

But the chief superintendent said the rise was “anticipated” due to reforms made to procedures across the country.

He added, “A number of these crimes are historical in nature, some dating as far back as 1999, and were brought to light due to new proactive investigative measures being implemented locally.” Protective measures with the aim of preventing future or repeat incidents of domestic abuse have been introduced recently, including one stipulating that domestic abuse victims are visited by Fife officers within 24 hours of an offender being released from court on bail.