Chief Superintendent Mark McLaren, divisional commander for Aberdeenshire and Moray, said victims have more confidence in the police, thus meaning that more are coming forward to report sexual crimes.
Recent figures revealed there has been an increase in serious assaults and rapes in Aberdeenshire over the past year.
Between April and September this year, there was a jump of 91.7% of serious assaults while there was a 30.4% increase in rapes reported.
Chief Supt McLaren said today the figures were misleading.
He said the increase in rapes shows more people were confident in reporting sex crimes to police.
He added that recent high-profile court cases, including Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris, “absolutely” had an impact.