Best Performing Police Forces Named

The best and worst performing police forces in England and Wales have been named in Government figures.

Humberside, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, the Metropolitan Police and Cambridgeshire forces were at the bottom of performance assessments published by the Home Office.

West Mercia, West Midlands, Hampshire and Surrey were the best performing forces.

All 43 police forces in England and Wales were assessed in seven categories - reducing crime, investigating crime, promoting safety, providing assistance, citizen focus (which includes community confidence in the police), resource use and local policing.

Overall, 9% of results were classed as poor, 40% as fair, 44% as good and 7% as excellent.

The figures also showed that in 56% of cases, forces were improving their performance. In 39% their performance was stable but in 5% performance had deteriorated.

Six forces had deteriorated in their performance investigating crime. They were Dyfed Powys, Gwent, Kent, Northamptonshire, Northumbria and West Midlands.

Home Office minister Hazel Blears said overall policing performance was "very encouraging".

She said: "Crime and the fear of crime are both down and the number of offences brought to justice has gone up."

"Over the last three years we have seen real and sustainable improvements in police performance. This publication provides a clear picture of police performance designed to enable forces to identify strengths and weaknesses and to help local communities understand the performance of their force."

Click here see your local police force performance figures

So there we have it then, who says cooking the books isn't time well spent!