STAFFORDSHIRE Police is good at protecting people from harm and excellent at keeping guns off the streets – but poor at solving crimes.

The assessment has been made in the first ever national Police Report Card, which is launched today by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary.

Although the force's overall performance was considered to be meeting standards, its record on crime solving has been given red flag status as "poor" and in need of urgent attention.

Staffordshire Police says securing convictions has been targeted as a key area for improvement, especially in burglary and theft.

But it points to a 100 per cent success rate in cracking murder cases between April last year and last month as evidence it is making significant progress.

The report also praised the force for its work on cracking drug crime through Operation Nemesis, which has won a national award.

Chief Constable Mike Cunningham, pictured, said: "I think this report highlights the fact that we are a good force which is very responsive to the needs of our local communities. The last piece of the jigsaw is for us to make improvements in solving more crimes.

"The inspection that led to this report was carried out around six months ago and we have already made progress to ensure we provide the public with a quality of service that meets the needs of all those we serve."

The report assesses Staffordshire Police's performance on suppressing gun crime, reducing road death and injury rates, and on satisfaction from ethnic minority communities as "excellent".

It also praises the force's emphasis on neighbourhood policing and the protection it affords the public.

Its general good performance is backed up by the latest crime figures, made public last October.

Although violent crime with injury increased from 4,902 in April to September 2008, to 5,050 in the same period last year; other types of crime dropped.

There were 4,007 fewer incidents recorded in from April to September 2009 compared with the same period in 2008. The total number of offences recorded dropped to 40,285.

Police Authority chairman David Pearsall said: "Staffordshire Police is a top performing force and we are pleased by some of the significant successes recognised in this report.

"We are extremely pleased that the force is noted as providing value for money with the cost to the taxpayer being among the lowest in the country, while providing a relatively high number of officers."

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