GREATER Manchester Police has the worst record in England and Wales for investigating burglaries.

From 1994-95 there were 51 burglaries per 1000 households in the region - the fourth highest in the country.

But the number of burglars detected was just seven per cent, according to figures released in a Government watchdog report todaythe worst performance in the nation's league table.

Thirty one per cent of burglaries - the highest in the country - were detected by "other means", where an investigation did not take place . This category includes instances where criminals charged with one offence have asked for other cases to be taken into consideration and results from informants and specific police operations.

The figures revealed in the Audit Commission's Performance Indicators report shows the number of recorded crimes is still among the highest in the country - 119 per thousand of the population, though the figure is down on the previous year. According to the latest figures, burglaries in Bolton fell between 1993 and 1994 from 6,598 to 5,837.

The clear-up rate for crimes investigated by police is the third worst in the country standing at 17pc or eight crimes per officer in the Force - 16pc of crimes are cleared up without an investigation.

Head of CID Det Supt David James defended the GMP's record: "You have to compare like with like. GMP is a metropolitan force and should be compared with other metropolitan forces who have similar demands and similar problems.

"We have at least maintained our performance over the last year. When you take crime figures over all, you can see a reduction. Violent crime is down and burglary in a dwelling is down.

"When you look at the figures over all you will see there has been a gradual improvement or at least performance has been maintained and we found that encouraging." Greater Manchester has the third highest number of officers available for duty and is third highest spender in the country. The net cost to residents in the region is £62.53 per head of the population.

GMP fares well in responding to 999 calls. The force dealt with 446,345 emergency calls and answered 96pc of them within 15 seconds. They responded to 82pc of emergencies within 10 minutes - last year it was 71pc.

The force answered 90pc of non-emergency calls within 60 seconds and answered 90pc of letters within 21 days.

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