The article concerning whether crime figures are manipulated or not and the angry response such a claim brought forth from a senior Sussex Police officer (The Argus, March 19) made me smile.

Of course the police want to present the best possible image when they come under scrutiny and are required to produce facts and figures, but that should not blind them to the realities of day-to-day recording of crime statistics.

I am not sure how the reported 44 per cent increase in detections was arrived at and although it may well be the case that current detection rates are the highest on record, it has to be said there was room for improvement.

The last annual set of crime detection figures I saw issued by Sussex Police gave a detection rate of 29 per cent. Read that another way and it appears their undetected crime rate is 71 per cent.

This is where targets demanded by the Home Office have some relevance. It cannot be acceptable that any police force should be content with such low results.

The police have more manpower now than ever before and they continue to spend on the latest technology, so why the low results?

My own experience in dealing with Sussex Police may provide a clue as to the nub of the problem.

Last year I reported the theft of £2,000 worth of property from my home. It was quite apparent to me at the time of reporting the theft the complaint was not received with enthusiasm and I was told several times: "We can't do much with that." This same attitude prevailed when I was later interviewed by officers. Eventually, I received a letter informing me my complaint had been filed as undetected.

I replied to the officer, requesting details of their enquiries and asking why they had decided to file it when the ability to detect the offender was not difficult, as I had provided them with names and addresses of the person/s concerned.

I have never received a written reply from the officer.

Is it any surprise the Home Office is insisting on targets in order to improve matters.

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