Residents of West Yorkshire are more likely to become a victim of crime than people living in London, it was revealed today.

And almost a quarter of 999 callers to West Yorkshire Police are kept hanging on the telephone longer than the force's 15-second answering target.

Results of an Audit Commission study for the financial year 1996/97 show West Yorkshire has the fourth highest crime rate of the 42 forces in England and Wales.

There were 123 recorded crimes per 1,000 population in West Yorkshire, compared to 70 in North Yorkshire and 110 in the Metropolitan police area. And the county is a burglars' paradise with the highest number of break-ins per 1,000 homes in the whole of England and Wales at 51 - or one home in 20 - according to the figures.

North Yorkshire suffered 19 break-ins per 100 homes compared to the national average of 24.

But Toller Lane Acting Superintendent Alan Doherty said the Audit Commission figures were already out of date. Burglaries of homes across the city had dropped dramatically in the last year.

He said from April 1996 to April 1997 the number of domestic burglaries had plummeted 38 per cent in the Toller division. During 1996 burglaries had dropped by 15.7 per cent across the city.

He said: "It's not as bleak as the figures for the county suggest and a lot of good work has and is going on in Bradford."

The force, the fourth biggest in England and Wales, aims to answer 999 calls within 15 seconds but only hit the target on 77 per cent of the 342,199 calls it received.

North Yorkshire's target of five seconds was achieved 82 per cent of the time on the 53,226 calls received.

But West Yorkshire was one of the best forces when it came to hitting its target time of 15 minutes for reacting to incidents needing an immediate response with a 93 per cent record.

The amount of violent crime in West Yorkshire was in line with the national average, with six crimes per 1,000 head of population while there were four in North Yorkshire.

Officers in West Yorkshire solved a below average 21.7 per cent of all crimes and 71 per cent of violent incidents, and an above average 18.1 per cent of burglaries.

West Yorkshire Police said the report showed it was a first-class force giving a better crime-fighting performance and improved value for money.

Figures showed West Yorkshire had its biggest annual drop in recorded crime for 20 years with crime at its lowest since 1990.

The number of burglaries is down by 18 per cent -and down by a third in the last three years. Acting Chief Constable Allan Charlesworth said: "We are continuing to drive down burglaries by proactively targeting prolific offenders and adopting initiatives to protect victims from repeated attacks."

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