Sussex Police has been accused of manipulating crime figures by one of its own detectives.

Johnno Hills, who has just resigned from the force, said he was lifting the lid on a widespread practice of misinterpreting incidents to improve clear-up rates.

Mr Hills, previously a detective constable, last night told The Argus: "Everything has become dominated by statistics. Officers are being encouraged to record crimes all the time to improve the figures, even when there is nothing to report. It has led to a worrying culture."

Sussex Police refuted the allegations by the officer, who was based in Brighton.

Superintendent Graham Bartlett, the force's head of crime and operations in Brighton, said: "It's disappointing that the dedication and hard work of Mr Hills' colleagues to make Brighton and Hove safer is being detracted from in this way."

Mr Hills said officers were spending more time on paperwork recording inconsequential incidents to boost police figures than on trying to prevent crime.

He gave one example of an incident when a man was found hanging from a tree having committed suicide. When officers found a weapon in his pocket they seized on the opportunity to report it as an offence.

When the body of a drug dealer was found in a flat, he claimed officers were more interested in recording a detection of drugs found on the scene than investigating the death.

Mr Hills said that after he was called to a fight between a jogger and a dog-walker he was encouraged to fill out paperwork treating both as suspects even though he knew who was at fault. By treating both as offenders the incident counted double in the force statistics.

He said: "This happens all the time. Officers report two crimes for one or even one when there should be none. It is widespread.

"For some it has become a sport. I have had colleagues who compete to get the highest number of detections. Officers are spending less and less time on the street where the public want them to be. I was spending at least two thirds of my time doing paperwork at my desk."

In recent years the Home Office has increased pressure on forces to demonstrate their effectiveness through crime statistics. Sussex Police has shown a significant improvement in several areas. Mr Hills said this had led to a shift in emphasis away from preventative policing.

The 34-year-old, from Hove, said: "Officers' performances are judged by the statistics - by how many crimes they have detected. But those statistics only relate to crimes that have already been committed. There are no statistics to show the most important aspect of our work - the number of crimes we have prevented from happening."

He resigned from the force after being disciplined for publicly criticising it in a national newspaper.

Sussex Police suspended Mr Hills after accepting his resignation. He will still technically belong to the force for another two weeks. Despite the sanctions he has stuck by his position.

He said: "This has cost me my career but that is a price I am willing to pay. I took up this career because I wanted to serve my community and I'm not sure I am doing that any more.

"I am not going to drop this. Someone has to stand up and make people aware of this.

It needs to change."

Sussex Police said it was now bringing 50 per cent more offences to justice a year than five years ago.

It said this was driven by a 44 per cent increase in detections and added that its current detection rates were the highest on record.

Sussex Police said crimes in Brighton and Hove were below the average for similar areas in other parts of the country. In the past year the burglary rate has fallen by 30 per cent, serious violent crime by 21.7 per cent, robbery by 16.5 per cent and theft by 21.3 per cent.