Burglaries have gone up in Harrow by 24 per cent since last year, causing police to create a specialist unit.

Five members of staff will be targeting residential burglaries in the borough in attempt to keep the rate down.

From May 2007 until May 2008 there have been 2,381 burglaries in the area, in contrast from 2006 to 2007 when there were only 1,965. The majority of these were home burglaries, of which there were 1,651 between 2007 and 2008.

Detective Inspector John Cannon, from Harrow Police Crime Squad has been head of the new specialist burglary team since May. He said: "We are focused on the reporting of crime and the victims so that everyone has a good public service.

"The increase in burglaries was one of the reasons for the team.

"Last year's figures show the police can reduce burglaries. Between June 10-11 this year there were no burglaries in the borough."

Councillor Susan Hall, deputy leader of Harrow Council and portfolio holder for environment services information, believed the figures were disappointing but not unexpected.

She said: "If you have a very low rate, even one more burglary will cause a big increase.

"I'm not alarmed, because they are taking measures, as they don't want the crime rate to go up."

Harrow Police's target for this year is for an average of 25 burglaries a week.

Louis Smith, Chief Inspector of Harrow Police, said the figures did not tell the full story. He said: "Last year was our second best year ever for burglaries.

"This year we completely expect that people will be alarmed when they see the figures, but this year we have had stick for what we did last year."

Leader of the Labour party in Harrow Councillor Bill Stephenson, said: "There are a lot of wealthy areas in Harrow and they can attract more burglaries.

"We need to be careful looking at statistics for one year, as there are often trends."

However, the Chairman of the Harrow Crime Prevention Panel, Ross Simpson, believes the good figures last year should not be used to justify an increase.

He said: "There is no room for complacency, the fact they had a good year last year should not be used as a reason why crime has increased.

"The figures for last year should be a springboard to make this year the best ever."