West Yorkshire Police detected less crimes last year than in the previous 12 months - and burglaries rose by five per cent, latest figures show.

The force is one of six across the country now being helped by the Police Standards Unit to boost its performance.

About a quarter of residents are worried about disorder, 19 per cent say they are worried about burglary, 24 per cent are highly worried about car crime and 26 per cent are highly worried about violence. Less than half of people, 46 per cent, think the police do a good job.

The Home Office performance figures are designed to help forces to gauge how well they are working in the key areas of crime fighting, the number of crimes, public confidence, use of resources and fear of crime.

Chief Constable Colin Cramp-horn said the figures did not reflect the full picture of policing and the force could be proud of its achievements, given that it had fewer officers than other comparable forces.

He said in West Yorkshire, sickness levels were down to 9.7 days lost for every officer from 13.4 and 11 days lost for every civilian, down from 12.4.

He said: "This snapshot of last year's performance is useful, but it's worth noting that almost half of police activity is not represented.

"Non-crime-related activity, such as responding to calls for assistance and dealing with anti-social behaviour, is not included.

"Crime trends in the county have improved since this report was produced.

"Latest figures (April to August) show 300 fewer burglaries and 1,300 fewer car thefts than this time last year.

"One of the national priorities was to reduce street crime and our success is reflected in the below average figures.

"We are particularly pleased that we continue to reduce the number of days lost through sickness and injury.

"Despite the massive call on our resources, for example an additional 18,000 incidents requiring an immediate response in 2002-03, public satisfaction levels are encouraging."

Police Minister Hazel Blears revealed that West Yorkshire was among the six forces the Home Office Police Standards Unit was already working with.

She said detection rates were rising nationally but the number of recorded crimes had also gone up.

"The overall detection rate is going up but obviously we have work to do in some forces," she said.