POLICE watchdogs in Lancashire have reported a good year across the county, but with room for improvement.

Crime figures are down, detection rates are up and satisfaction among Lancashire residents is holding steady, according to members of the Lancashire Police Authority - an independent body made up of local people.

The authority has just published its annual report looking back on policing for the county for 2002/2003.

It gives details of the three main aims, drawn up by the police authority following consultation with local people.

The main aims this year were to reassure the public, to reduce crime, particularly those offences that are of concern to the public and to make roads safer, particularly for children.

In terms of reassuring the public, the authority reports that the fear of crime did not increase during the year, and that satisfaction with the police remained generally at a high level.

Satisfaction with the police's initial response to 999 calls went up from 76 per cent to 88 per cent, although there was a drop in satisfaction with the way the police responded to reports of burglaries, from 92 per cent to 88 per cent.

The authority does have some concern about the low levels of satisfaction with the way the police deal with racist incidents, at only 60 per cent, though this is typical of the country as a whole.

Overall the authority believes Lancashire people have confidence in the way they are policed.

Performance has improved on response times, with the police answering 90 per cent of 999 calls within the target figure of 10 seconds - an improvement on the figure of 79 per cent in 2001/02.

In terms of levels of crime, the position is encouraging.

Violent crime has dropped by 0.4 per cent, vehicle crimes fell by nine per cent and burglaries were cut by 22 per cent.

At the same time, the police's detection rate for each of these types of crime rose, only just missing the targets set for them.

Brian Aldred, chief executive of Lancashire Police Authority, said: "This suggests to us that in Lancashire, the fight against crime is not going the way of the criminals."

Roads in Lancashire also became safer, particularly for children, in 2002/2003.

Mr Aldred added: "The target of reducing all serious collisions by eight per cent was more than met, with a reduction of 12 per cent actually recorded.

And there was an 18 per cent reduction in serious collisions involving children, against our original target of a 10 per cent reduction."

The report also details other aspects of policing, including checking the way in which ethnic minorities are treated.

Figures presented to the authority showed that there was broad equality of treatment between the white and the ethnic minority populations.

Victim rates were the same, as were detection rates, and there was little difference in the experience of stop and search.

The annual report also shows that the number of working days lost to police officer sickness fell to 10.9, but the number of days lost to civilian sickness rose to 14.1. Complaints against police have also fallen.

Mr Aldred said: "It is fair to say that the authority is pleased with the progress made in delivering the policing plan for 2002/03.

"However, we have identified some areas which will need improvement in 2003/04 and the authority will, together with the Chief Constable and his senior staff, be looking to focus on these this year without losing the achievements already made."