Chief inspector Paula Clark, who took over as area commander for the region from Chief Inspector Andy Clark on Monday, was reacting to figures released last Thursday for the first year of Police Scotland.

They show that during the initial 12 months of the single police force there were 152 reported crimes of rape, attempted rape and sexual assaults in the Scottish Borders - an increase of more than 56 per cent from 2012/13.

But local officers also recorded an increase in the detection rate of offenders, from 60 per cent up to 75 per cent.

And the reporting hike comes after a dedicated rape and domestic violence unit was established in the region during 2013.

Chief inspector Clarke told the Border Telegraph: “The fact that more people have come forward to report sexual crimes in the Scottish Borders over the past 12 months demonstrates an increased public confidence in policing.

“For years there has been a significant issue with under reporting, which perhaps indicated a lack of confidence in the system, but we have made a number of improvements to the way rape is dealt with and this appears to have influenced the number of cases now being seen.” There were 38 rapes reported during the past 12 months, an increase of seven on the previous year, but again there was a high detection rate of 73.3 per cent and several of the cases were historical.

The Chief Inspector welcomed the report which shows a drop in the number of robberies from 12 to seven as well as violent crimes down from 79 to 73 across the region.

And CI Clark hopes that the progress can continue under her leadership.

She said: “I am really looking forward to getting back to the Scottish Borders and building on these encouraging figures.

“The reduction in the number of robberies and violent crimes committed in this area is significant and hopefully sends a message to our communities that progress is being made in our bid to tackle criminal activity.

“It makes sense for us to focus our policing priorities on the things that people tell us matter to them.” The report also revealed that the number of road fatalities had reduced from eight to four and the seriously injured casualties from 76 to 66.

Divisional Commander for the Lothians and Borders, Chief Superintendent Gill Imery, added: “Road safety was highlighted as a key issue for our communities, and both drivers and pedestrians should take confidence from the fact that the figures released today show a drop in collisions and a drop in those being seriously injured as a result of incidents on our roads.” The Borders figures also showed an increase of 46 per cent - from 1868 to 2738 - in the number of stop and searches carried out by officers.

The number of domestic abuse incidents dropped from 930 to 835, but crimes of dishonesty - including theft, shoplifting, house-breaking and vehicle theft - showed an increase of nine per cent from 1357 to 1479 despite the launch of a dedicated unit, Operation RAC, to tackle these type of offences.