Crime remains on a downward trend according to police, despite a series of high-profile home invasions.Revealing the crime statistics for the first quarter of the year, Police Commissioner Michael DeSilva said yesterday that total crime remained “virtually unchanged” from the previous quarter, with moderate increases in some areas and moderate decreases in others.Regarding firearms offences, the Commissioner said: “The first three months of 2012 recorded 36 firearm reports of which 16 were confirmed. These included one fatal and two non-fatal shootings.“At the time of the murder of Stefan Burgess in January, there had not been a fatal shooting in eight months since the death of Jason Smith in May 2011.“The other 13 incidents included the recovery of two illegal guns, eight recoveries of illegal ammunition, two shootings where there were no injuries and one other crime was committed with the use of a firearm.“The remaining 20 reports were unconfirmed. This represents a reduction on the previous quarter and shows an overall downward trend over the last three years.”He noted that a recent series of home invasions have resulted in 19 arrests, 11 people being brought before the courts, the recovery of one firearm and a significant amount of stolen property recovered.Crimes against the community became more frequent, with Mr DeSilva citing an increase in antisocial behaviour offences such as the use of offensive words and threatening behaviour as the cause of the rise.However the rate of crimes against property fell, with an increase in residential and commercial burglaries being offset by a falling number of thefts, frauds and burglaries at tourist accommodations.Officers made 829 arrests in the quarter, with around one-third related to court-issued warrants, and seized a total of 21kg of illegal drugs, valued at $1.9 million.The bulk of the drugs were seized by customs, but around $365,000 was seized by officers on the street.While the quantities of drugs seized fell in comparison to the previous quarter, Mr DeSilva said: “This must be set in context against the backdrop of last year’s massive haul of $52 million worth of drugs, primarily at the borders by the Department of Customs and by overseas agencies acting on tip-offs from Bermuda.”Less than 2,000 stop and search checks were carried out, the lowest figure in two years, while the number of both traffic tickets and traffic collisions fell.Useful website: www.bps.bm.