I served from 1971 to 1988 with Lancs and GMP until I retired owing to injury on duty. Stats have always been recorded in a manner that presents a Force in a favourable and positive light. It is done so to enhance the reputation of Chief Constables and to please Government. The truth is immaterial.

Ian Gossop, Padgate, England

The police and government are treating the public with contempt.
We all know how much violent crime there is.
In Japan the police have said 'We can't find him so he must have committed suicide'.
I hope our police don't follow that lead.
They might see it as an easy way to clear up a lot of crimes.

GJB, Slough, Berkshire

I am an ex-pat, I live in Florida. I've lived here for six years. I feel far safer walking out here than I ever did in England.

Fred, Orlando, USA

We should not be surprised this government appears prepared to do anything to make things look better than they really are. It proves they have run out of ideas and would rather quote false statistics.

simon holland, maidenhead, berks

Get politics & the govt out of policing and the criminal justice system now
Police and courts have no powers or respect because of constant governement meddling
Heres a statistic
150,000 cops in the UK
87,000 prisoners
Over 250,000 people arrested so far this year
Now there's a clear picture!

Shaun, Newcastle, Tyneside

yes jack, I wish we could all walk the streets in safty like you can in america.

andrew, edinburgh, scotland

Anybody believe anything emanating from this Government after all this time?, well naive does not cover it.

Simon, Leeds, U.K.

An analysis of the perpetrators of these crimes would reveal why the trendy left politicans dont want people to know the truth.

It is their social and immigration policies that are creating the toxic and fragmented cultures that now threaten us all.

Not exactly improving things are they!

JohnW, Oldham,

When I was at police training college, I was told that any assault with a break of the skin and bleeding would be classified as a GBH. When I got to my division the reality was that it had to be really serious for an assault to be recorded as a GBH, all else was put down as a ABH.

R.Hayley, Ulverston, England

WHen the first ever crime report I submitted in 1968 for theft was torn up by the DS I stopped worrying about Stats and just got on with the job. Every so often the Political masters changed the way stats were to be gathered and recorded. We just fiddled the figures and got on with fighting crime.

Barry P, Havant, England

I am amazed you didn't know this earlier. We saw the results of your handgun ban years ago. Of course criminals are safe now, and crime rises. What elese did you expect?

Jack, Highland, USA

i live in London and i have begun taking cabs after nights out to get home because the night buses are so unreliable and the people on them are so disgraceful that i deemed it just not worth it. seen people fighting, violent muggings, urinating etc. Does TFL know this goes on?

Alex, london, england

"Last year we reduced police targets to give them greater flexibility to deal with local crime problems and to prioritise tackling the most serious violence."

Here's a thought - how about scrapping targets altogether and trusting them to do the job, if individuals don't, dismissal with no pension.

Alex, London,

Nobby Clark: No close down the police force and save a lot more. All they do is record crime, badly, as has been admitted by the government. They both perform the same task and at least the office of national statistics are good at their job.

Steve, Norwich,

Give the police their sidearms back and crime will go down due to increased enforcement. They are scared and who can blame them? Who would like to confront a gang of thugs armed only with only a stick? Seriously...

Erik, South Haven, U.S.

Targets and political correctness rule the police force nowadays, causing widespread disillusionment amongst responsible and conscientious rank and file police officers, of which there are a great many.

Richard, Kirkby Stephen,

'The row over the impact of counting rules masked a generally impressive set of quarterly crime figures. The data showed offences fell by 6% in the 12 months to June 2008 in both the British crime survey (BCS) and in police crime records. Violent crime remained stable on the BCS figure'

Stephen, Bristol,

Crime and third world public transport made me leave the UK after 4 years in London and Birmingham (attacked 3 times for passing by). I am now in Vienna where old ladies walk their dogs in the park at midnight.

Werner, Vienna,

There are lies,damned lies and statistics.

mike, Peterborough, UK.

I think we all know that the JHome Office and the police have been falsifying crime figures for years, claiming that they are lower than they really are.

The Government for avoid the political consequences; senior police officers, to avoid obvious accusations that they're not doing their jobs.

Robert, Hull, UK

Still not fit for purpose then.

Bill, Ramsey,

Isn't 22% a higher percentage than the detection rate for all UK police forces?

A.Williams, Cradley Heath,

i have lived in the US for most of my life and in the UK for the past three years. in those three years i have seen more violent crime than i have seen in all my years living in the U.S. combined. why is the UK so violent and more importantly why are people able to get away with it?

Alex, london, england

Close down the Office for National Statistics. That'll help to pay back some of the £125bn black hole that Darling and Brown have created.

Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one,

look let's forget these useless figures as you are never going to get the truth out of these people anyway.We know society is getting more violent and we don't need anyone to tell us otherwise.tougher sentencing doesn't work as the escalation proves.We need to get people to respect other people.

Kevin, london, England

Words fail me. I've been attacked three times in three years just going about my business, yet always told I've never been safer and it's all 'rose tinted spectacles'. But that's ok, because despite crime actually rocketting it's comparing apples and oranges anyway. Glad I'm leaving the country.

Karl, Canterbury, UK

The other point of this is why Police were under-recording these crimes . It wouldn't have anything to do with reaching govt. targets would it ?

Benzo, Nr Chelmsford,

This is unbelievable ! It's not only our governments that are incompetant but also the services that support it. The average person on the street can see that violence has been on the increase but the public services and the government hide behind statistics. A disgrace !

Ian Downing, Milton Keynes, Bucks

I have sort of lost faith in this country... gangs everywhere., hitting and stabbing innocent people, robbing and stealing other's belongings, fighting..etc...i really dont know what their parents are doing, letting their kids hurting other people verbally and physically....

Lisa, Birmingham,

She said: "Last year we reduced police targets to give them greater flexibility to deal with local crime problems and to prioritise tackling the most serious violence..."

Condemned by her own words!!! Police are form filing rather than tackling Crime on the streets.

Joe McT, Glasgow, BlairsFantasyIsland

The Police obviously take their lead, from the way that the Government records 'their' Unemployment figures! which are more than likely double the figures quoted.

Clive Burghard, Lancing, ENGLAND

Perhaps more effort should be put into prevention and less into form filling.

Andy, Correze, France

"They admitted that the under-counting could have been going on for more than 10 years." Yes, eleven years. The eleven that "tough on crime&quot" Labour have been in power.

Mike, Bristol, UK,

So the crimes were under-reported and they changed the criteria for the categories as well. Exactly why should we have any confidence at all in the government's figures? And after hearing this, why am I going to believe her when she says that the overall number of violent crimes is down?

Martin, Bordeaux, France