LANCASHIRE Constabulary has been given a massive vote of confidence by the public according to their latest figures.

The performance statistics - to be presented to the Police Authority today (Thursday) - reveal more than 92 per cent of people who were helped by the police are satisfied with the overall service delivery, exceeding the 90 per cent target set by the constabulary.

In addition the violent crime detection rate was 78.5, topping their 70 per cent target, and people arrested for supplying drugs was 670, 30 more than the target figure.

The figures have emerged from a widespread survey of accident and crime victims across the county carried out in February.

Acting deputy chief constable David Smith said: "It is extremely gratifying to know the public are largely satisfied with our work.

"The force's year end performance figures cover a range of objectives and while the constabulary has performed extremely well in some of them, there is room for improvement in others."

One such area is crime reduction where the constabulary only managed top push down the number of reported crimes by 2.7 per cent compared to a 5 per cent target - and the same target was set for crimes of nuisance and disorder where only a 3.1 per cent reduction was recorded.

Perhaps more alarmingly the constabulary fell 3.5 per cent short of the target to answer 999 calls within ten seconds, which was set at 97 per cent.

Mr Smith explained: "We knew we had set ourselves very challenging targets this time last year and it took a few months to start making real progress. It seems clear the new divisions are settling down and there has been a very real commitment by the force as a whole to meet the targets we set ourselves."

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