NEW figures released today revealed that under half of the residents in Lancashire think the police are doing a good job - even though the county force finds and punishes more crooks than in other areas of the country.

The police performance monitors found that 42 per cent of people were favourable about the police's work -- three per cent less than the average for similar forces and four per cent less than the county's 2002 figure.

But, on the whole, Lancashire was found to be performing well, with many variables better than the national average.

It was revealed that Lancashire Constabulary detects 26 per cent of offences compared to the average of 21 per cent and brings 24 per cent of offenders to justice compared to the 20 per cent average.

For every 1,000 residents there was one robbery and 13.3 incidents of vehicle crime, while 16.2 burglaries were recorded per 1,000 homes. These figures were below the national average and also a reduction on Lancashire's 2002 statistics.

Some 19 per cent of Lancashire residents were worried about violence, slightly higher than other similar forces. But people in the country were not as worried about burglary or car crime.

The performance monitors aim to gauge police's success in reducing crime, investigating crime, promoting public safety, satisfying the public and using resources effectively, rather than just judging forces by crime statistics,

Surveys of the public and analysis of crime figures are used. Forces are compared to similar forces in size and area.