West Yorkshire's police chief today paid tribute to his force for continuing to reduce crime despite watching its own officer numbers plummet.

Newly released Home Office figures showed that the force was reduced by 405 officers between March 1997 and January this year.

Over the whole of Yorkshire and Humberside, the number was slashed by 554, the largest deficit anywhere in the country outside London.

The figures drew fierce criticism from the Police Federation, the organisation representing rank-and-file officers, which said there were fewer officers left to cope with more work.

West Yorkshire Chief Constable Graham Moore said the fall in personnel had been due to a £13 million budget cut from 1998 to 2000, forcing a recruitment freeze over the period.

But he paid tribute to the men and women of the service for their efforts under such difficult circumstances and stressed there was light at the end of the tunnel, with 440 extra recruits being taken on this year alone.

In Bradford, crime fell by 13 per cent over the last 12 months with burglary rates cut by 30 per cent and robberies 15 per cent.

Mr Moore said: "To the credit of officers, crime levels have continued to fall."

He said new Government cash, under the Crime Fighting Fund, would help to ease the pressure on front line staff.

"We are now, thankfully, in a position to reverse the losses.

"We began some limited recruiting last year and, with the help of the Government's Crime Fighting Fund, we are able to do more. In the coming year, West Yorkshire Police will recruit up to 440 officers and more will follow."

Responding to a barrage of criticism from opposition parties, Home Secretary Jack Straw yesterday announced what he called the largest increase of officers nationally in more than a decade.

Mr Straw said the Crime Fighting Fund helped to boost national police numbers in January by 1,367 over last April's figures.

The number of officers in West Yorkshire stands at 4,804.