Dorset Police has issued a Christmas and New Year message to its communities, reflecting on "another full-on year".

Chief Constable Scott Chilton said: "The Christmas and New Year period often brings much joy to people across Dorset, providing many of us with a chance to spend quality time with family, friends and loved ones.

"Our officers and staff will be working hard 24/7 to make sure Dorset remains as safe as possible and will be protecting all our communities. I am proud of the incredible work they do to keep people safe and in doing so deal with many difficult and demanding situations.

"It has been another full-on year for Dorset Police as we continue to strive to be the safest county. The latest Office for National Statistics data shows that Dorset is now the sixth safest county in the country, moving from tenth out of a total of 43.

"This is testament to the excellent work that is taking place by the Force, its staff and volunteers to make Dorset a safe county for everyone.

"We have proudly welcomed more officers to the force as part of Uplift and the national increase in police numbers. These officers are a much-needed boost to our frontline teams and have enabled investment in key areas, including our Neighbourhood Enforcement Teams who tackle county lines drugs gangs as part of Op Viper, the Rural Crime Team who provide policing to our rural communities, and specialist teams investigating child abuse.

"This year has been significantly busier than the previous two years during the COVID-19 pandemic with our dedicated contact officers answering more than 125,000 emergency 999 calls, responding to more than 72,000 emails reporting crime and dealing with more than 140,000 non-emergency calls.

"I would like to pay tribute to these teams, our response officers, detectives and every single officer, member of police staff and volunteer who have worked so hard to protect our residents and visitors.

"We have yet again continued in our relentless pursuit of criminals, and it is due to the professionalism of our teams that a significant number of people have been brought to justice and taken off our streets.

"Sadly, my officers and staff deal with tragedy every day, but it is important to remember that there are many people out there who have had their lives affected by the criminal behaviour of others. The force is determined to target those people who cause misery to others and we will continue support victims of crime.

"My commitment to Operation Viper and investing significant resources in tackling those who supply drugs in our communities has seen a significant number of county lines drugs gangs disrupted and brought to justice.

"We have reduced the number of organised crime gangs supplying drugs into the county by over 60 per cent, taken firearms off the streets, put people in prison and in doing so we are protecting our communities.

"We have also made some really positive progress on tackling anti-social behaviour. As a key priority of the Police and Crime Commissioner, we have together through Operation Relentless targeted those areas where anti-social behaviour impacts on law abiding citizens and we have reduced this type of reported crime by over 30 per cent. However, I am aware we have more to do and we will further strengthen our focus on this in the coming year.

"This was also the year that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II became the first British Monarch to reign for over 70 years. Her sad death in September brought the world together in grief but also in celebration of the amazing achievements of one of our greatest ever leaders of modern times.

"The force was honoured to play its part with our communities as everyone came together to remember the life of Her Majesty.

"We remain determined to build on our positive relationship with the public, serving our communities and protecting them from harm. I am proud of the force's progress, and I am grateful to our public for all the support they have shown and we will look forward to making Dorset an even safer county.

"I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year."