West Mercia Police is praised in report

West Mercia Police was today named as one of the best forces in the country for accurately recording crimes.

But officers made the wrong decision in 20 per cent of cases where they decided that no crime had been committed, according to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).

The figures were revealed after a review of the way in which the 43 police forces in England and Wales log crime statistics.

West Mercia recorded 92 per cent of incidents accurately, while neighbouring Dyfed Powys had a 95 per cent accuracy rate.

In West Mercia, HMIC looked at a sample of 121 incidents logged by police officers.

Ten were wrongly closed without a crime being identified.

The inspection has said that this figure 'indicates that crimes in West Mercia are generally recorded accurately'.

See also:

• Police ‘write off many crimes’