West Yorkshire Police have bucked the national trend by slashing the number of serious firearms offences.

Home Office figures show that the use of firearms in recorded crimes rose nationally by just under one per cent during 2003-2004.

But in West Yorkshire the number plunged by about a fifth from 333 to 269. That amounted to 13 offences per 100,000 people - less than the national average of 20.

The force did not fare as well in the number of homicides recorded. The West Yorkshire figure rose from 37 to 42 - 20 offences per million of the population, compared to the national figure of 15.8. But the figures include some killings from years ago which have only recently been recorded due to advances in technology.

Nationally, the number of firearms offences have nearly doubled in the last five years to more than 10,300.

The use of handguns was down seven per cent last year, with more than 5,100 such recorded crimes, but there was a big rise of 18 per cent in the use of imitation weapons, following a 46 per cent rise the year before. There was a slight fall in crimes involving air weapons.

More than 60 per cent of all firearms offences took place in three police areas - the Met, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. Less than three per cent of firearms crimes resulted in serious injury - but those which involved any injury have doubled in the last five years.

Homicides involving firearms were down 16 per cent from 81 to 68. They included the murder of Bradford traffic Ian Broadhurst, the first police officer to be killed on duty since 1995. Eight per cent of all homicides involved firearms.

Across the Bradford district, including Keighley, violent crime was slightly higher than the West Yorkshire average, with 26.7 offences per 1,000 population, compared with 24.9 across the force.

The figures for Bradford South, which includes the city centre, were double those of Bradford North and Keighley. Eighteen per cent of crimes in Bradford were of a violent nature, but most of those involved harassment or verbal abuse. The more serious violent crimes accounted for less than one per cent of offences.

The total of firearms offences in West Yorkshire was slightly up, at 2,145, but most were incidents of criminal damage involving air weapons, and the offences accounted for less than one per cent of all recorded crime in the county. Serious firearms offences, like robbery and violence, fell and robberies with firearms plunged by 38 per cent. Of those offences only one in 12 resulted in injury.

Home Office Minister Hazel Blears claimed people were less likely to be a victim of crime today than 20 years ago and they were less worried about violent crime than they were last year.

She said: "Gun crime is thankfully rare but we take the problem very seriously where it does occur."

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "While any gun crime is of concern, we have a good track record in tackling it.

"Our figures are also down, set against the slight rise nationally. West Yorkshire has seen good success and year-on-year reductions in gun crime."