FAR from shedding light on the issue of recent comments made by the Chief Constable of Cheshire, Clr Shingler's ill-informed remarks on your letters page only serve to muddy the waters.

Perhaps I may be allowed to set out some established facts and figures, which will set the record straight.

At every police forum and briefing I have attended, the growth in calls to the police has been reported, completely the reverse of what Clr Shingler claims.

The National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) has increased the number of incidents that will be recorded as crimes, estimates indicate by as much as 20 per cent in some categories. For example domestic violence now accounts for about 25 per cent of all violent crime, this would not have been recorded as crime 20 years ago, it would be recorded merely as a domestic dispute.

Crime has fallen by 25 per cent overall since 1997 according to the British Crime Survey (BCS), a survey widely accepted as authoritative and non-political. The chance of becoming a victim of crime remains at its lowest for 20 years since the BCS began in 1981.

The new NCRS has led to increases in some of the figures as police are now recording crimes that were taking place, but not previously recorded.

The new system, introduced at the request of the Association of Chief Police Officers, is now more accurate and transparent, recording a crime when a victim reports it, rather than leaving it up to the police to decide.

All the above points to a general increase in the volume of reports to the police, the complete opposite to Clr Shingler's comments.

CLR BRIAN LLOYD

Leader of the Labour Group

Vale Royal Borough Council