West Yorkshire comes out as one of Britain's worst areas for recorded crime in detailed statistics from the Audit Commission today.

But crime in the county is down from 135,000 per 1,000 population to less than 115 in 1994/5.

The figures come only a day after heroin was said to be the biggest problem facing local police by a Crime and Disorder audit.

West Yorkshire also has the second highest number of recorded burglaries in the country during 1997/98. But burglaries, again, are down 35 per cent on the figure four years ago.

West Yorkshire Chief Constable Gordon Moore said: "West Yorkshire continues to improve its performance year on year. Crime is down to its lowest level for seven years and this is a credit to the men and women of West Yorkshire Police.

The Audit Commission says 34 per cent of burglaries in West Yorkshire were detected last year -three per cent more than the national average.

West Yorkshire was fourth from the top of the league table of 42 police authorities for all types of recorded crimes.

The county is also 16th in the national table for recorded violent crimes. The average number of recorded crimes per 1,000 population from 1997-8 stood at 70 nationally.

But the West Yorkshire figure is more than twice that number at 114.6.

There were 66.2 recorded crimes in North Yorkshire and the worst area was Humberside, with 136.6 The Audit Commission says its performance indicators for police forces and fire brigades show big variations in performance from force to force, with wide gaps between the best and the worst.

Reported violent crime in West Yorkshire in the past year is six per 1,000 population, putting it the same as the national average and fourth highest of seven metropolitan authorities..

West Yorkshire had 42 .5 burglaries per 1,000 dwelling - more than twice the national average of 20.5. It was far above North Yorkshire which had 18.

The Commission concludes that targeted crime prevention campaigns work to reduce crime

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