CRIME has fallen in the Thames Valley for the fourth year in succession.

But the force remains near the bottom of a national league table for catching criminals, according to a report out today.

Crime fell by six per cent in 1997 compared with the previous year, a small improvement on the national figure of 5.5 per cent. The force's performance in solving burglaries and violent crimes also improved.

In the one area most crucial to the public, crime detection, Thames Valley Police remains near the bottom of the national chart - 37th out of 42. There has, however, been a four per cent improvement in detection rates.

The annual survey, conducted by the Audit Commission for the fourth year, compares the performance of all police forces in the UK, monitoring everything from violent crime to expenditure.

Assistant Chief Constable Robert Davies said: "There is some really encouraging news in the Audit Commission report. It shows that we are continuing to achieve a reduction in overall crime, while both improving our detection rate and our response times.

"This has been achieved through problem-solving policing, in partnership with others, which continues to be at the heart of our policing style. There are clear signs that together we are making communities safer."

The number of crimes being recorded in the Thames Valley (4.3 per 1,000 population) is substantially below the national average (5.8 per 1,000 population).

The force also improved its performance in relation to handling 999 calls. Of all the 228,508 calls handled, the seventh highest figure in the country, 92 per cent were answered in ten seconds, a four per cent improvement on last year.

Thames Valley Police is bottom of the list in terms of staffing levels - there are 1.8 officers available for duty per 1,000 people, while the average is 2.2.

But the force had to deal with 8,447 road accidents, the highest number out of any English shire police authority.

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