The worst-performing police force in England and Wales was identified as Bedfordshire in annual government figures published yesterday.

Greater Manchester, Thames Valley and Wiltshire were the next worst-rated forces, according to the annual assessment of the 43 police forces.

Joint top of the list - compiled by adding up figures awarded for performance in different areas of police work - were Lancashire and Surrey.

The amount of time that officers are spending on the front line barely increased in the past year despite a drive by the Government for more police officers to be on the streets rather than doing back-room duties.

Expert View

Despite their crudity, these figures provide the public with a clear view of how well the local force is performing

Richard Ford

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The national average of time that police officers spent on the streets stood at 64.2 per cent - an increase of just 0.6 per cent on last year.

The performance of a force is assessed in areas of tackling crime; serious crime and public protection; protecting vulnerable people; satisfaction and fairness; implementation of neighbourhood policing; local priorities; and resources and efficiency.

The assessments are based on crime figures that are provided by the police, the local police authorities and an independent assessment of forces made by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.

They also take into account residents’ perceptions of their force.

Tony McNulty, the Police Minister, said that forces were facing tight times because of lower cash for the public services. “We are now entering a more flatline period in terms of resources after seven or eight years of growth,” he said.

He denied that the Police Service was inefficient, adding: “The notion that this is still an inefficient public service is wrong. The notion that this is the last bastion of 1960s public service, again, could not be farther from the truth.”

But a policy review of crime and justice that was carried out for Tony Blair’s Strategy Unit this year contradicted Mr McNulty.

The document, seen by The Times, said: “Unlike other public services, there has been comparatively little serious workforce reform in the criminal justice system, besides the creation of community support officers. Despite ready-formed plans for police workforce reform there has been a lack of political will to drive this forward due to opposition from the police.”

Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, said that most police forces in England and Wales had made improvements in the past 12 months, but added: “There is no room for complacency whatsoever.”

Three quarters of forces received a rating of good or excellent on tackling crime, while fewer forces received a poor rating compared with 2005-06. The assessment said that good progress had been made towards meeting the target of providing every community in the country with its own dedicated police team by next April.

Sir Ronnie said that there were specific areas for improvement, in particular in Bedfordshire, where inspectors were working with the chief constable to improve performance. He said: “It is not going to be a perfect picture across the board and no one here is trying to pretend that is the case.”

Sir Ronnie said that police forces had improved the way that they protected vulnerable people but he said that there must be no let-up in efforts to identify, manage and reduce risks to the public.

“Bedfordshire has issues. There have been areas of concern in how the neighbourhood policing programme there is being rolled out and in terms of the force’s ability to protect vulnerable people.”

Bedfordshire Police, which scored just one point in the assessment compared with Surrey and Lancashire, on 20 points each, defended its reputation and pointed out that no murder in the county had gone unsolved in the past ten years.

Gillian Parker, the chief constable, said: “I am disappointed with this particular report and somewhat puzzled by some of the headline results that in no way reflect the hard work that has been done.

“However, we are not dwelling on it and instead are concentrating on a continual programme of improvements aimed at providing the residents of Bedfordshire with the service they deserve.”

Financial pressures, she said, had added to the burden borne by the force, which is responsible for policing Luton airport at a cost of £400,000 a year.

Although bottom of the league table, when compared with forces with a similar socioeconomic make-up Bedfordshire had the largest fall in violent crime, robbery, drug offences and sex crimes.

David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: “The public will be dismayed to see that, despite all the rhetoric about slashing red tape, the amount of time police spend on the front line has stayed stagnant.

“We should also not forget that the definition of frontline policing is not one the public would recognise - it includes paperwork. We know that in reality a police officer spends less than a fifth of his or her time actually on the beat.

“In any case it is hard to draw other conclusions about police performance while a plethora of government targets and diktats continue to distort police priorities.”

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