Kent Police get worse at investigating crime
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New government figures for police forces show Kent Police has deteriorated at investigating crime. Forces were rated for investigating and cutting crime, providing help, resource use, promoting safety, local policing and community confidence in the police.
Across 43 forces, there was an improvement in 56% of those rating categories, 39% were stable and 5% had deteriorated. Nine per cent of the ratings were poor, 40% fair, 44% good and 7% excellent.
Dyfed Powys, Gwent, Kent, Northamptonshire, Northumbria and West Midlands had deteriorated at investigating crime.
Official quarterly figures also show the overall number of crimes in Kent went up by just over six per cent during April to June 2005, compared with the same period in the previous year. Overall, violent crime offences rose by nearly a fifth (19.8 percent, 1,248 offences).
Commenting on the Police Performance Assessment figures, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Policing, Lynne Featherstone MP said:
"The Government needs to urgently investigate the forces who have the worst ratings. Identifying poor performance is only useful if action is taken to follow it up."