Force in the top rank

The force's detection rates and rate of offences brought to justice have again been among the highest in England and Wales, according to the latest statistics for the period between April 1, 2005 and March 31, 2006.

Other major achievements this year include the securing of convictions in connection with several high-profile murder cases, as well as a successful large-scale immigration operation led by the constabulary, in collaboration with the UK Immigration Service and the National Crime Squad.

The Home Office report, which identifies forces' strengths and weaknesses by awarding them points for excellent, good, fair, stable and poor ratings, shows that the force's performance in reducing and investigating crimes has improved, awarding it a good grading for each of these categories.

The same is said in terms of providing assistance to members of the public, its citizen focus, local policing and use of resources.

Its accumulative score, not sanctioned by the Home Office, is 13. The Dyfed-Powys force also scored highly with 14 points.

Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said he was "encouraged" by the overall police performance assessments, but added there was no room for complacency and challenges still lay ahead.

HM Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Ronnie Flannagan, said that the bar had now been raised and added that future inspections would involve detailed analysis of the service's capability to protect vulnerable people.

He said there would be more emphasis on the ability of forces to protect children, manage sex offenders and handle and deal with missing vulnerable persons and domestic violence.

"This year's assessments show good past performance, tempered with the knowledge that we can and must do even better to meet the expectations of the communities we all serve," he added.

By Sunita Patel

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