Police chiefs have insisted Bradford is not a dangerous place after a report claimed it had the fourth worst urban crime rates in the country.

The independent think tank, Reform, obtained police figures for offences in seven categories murder, rape, assault, gun crime, robbery, burglary and vehicle crime.

The recorded crime figures, for January to December 2005, took in 55 towns and cities with a population of at least 100,000.

The report found that Nottingham had the worst record in the country with 115 of the selected crimes committed per 1,000 of the population, followed by Leeds.

Bradford was fourth worst with 100 offences per 1,000 of the population.

The national average was 61 crimes for every 1,000 people.

Reform says that annual national crime statistics mask local variations and says it hopes its findings will focus attention on police performance in urban areas.

It says improved police performance would be accelerated if the police were made more clearly accountable.

But Chief Superintendent Allan Doherty, divisional commander for Bradford North, said the findings did not properly reflect the true picture of what was happening.

And Bradford South's divisional commander, Chief Superintendent Sarah Brown, said Reform's figures should be taken with "a huge pinch of salt."

Chief Supt Doherty said that there had been 41 recorded crimes in the division in the previous 24 hours, including six violent crimes, two house burglaries and three robberies. He said there were 180,000 people living in the division, which was densely populated.

"That is an incredibly low amount of crime for a high number of people," said Chief Supt Doherty. "I don't think that's a bad performance.

"These figures will paint a picture that will make people feel even more frightened of going out of their house. But Bradford is not a dangerous place to live and it hasn't got high crime levels.

"We do see serious offences involving guns, but the streets are not awash with firearms. Incidents, serious or trivial, are few and far between. There have been significant reductions in crime across the city. These statistics are not helpful because they give a one-dimensional picture which is not true and they should not be taken out of context."

Chief Supt Brown said there had been significant reductions in crime in the division over the last three years and it continued to go down.

She added: "This sort of report does not help all the work that is being done across the Bradford district. Bradford is a far better and safer place to be than three years ago."

But report co-author Blair Gibbs said: "The Government's key message that crime has been falling masks a huge variation between the safest and most dangerous urban areas. Better information and improved policing based on direct accountability to local communities is urgently needed."

e-mail: steve.wright@bradford.newsquest.co.uk