A NORTH-EAST police force has defended the way it records crime and has urged the public to keep faith with the way that it operates.

An inspection by the Audit Commission downgraded the Cleveland force and its police authority from "excellent" to "good" in crime recording.

The survey measured the quality and accuracy of the way that statistics are compiled. A good rating signifies a 90 to 94 per cent compliance of targets set by the commission.

A commission spokesman said: "Its performance on crime recording has deteriorated from last year. The authority and force need to regain its focus to improve standards."

But the criticism has been rebuffed by the chairman of Cleveland Police Authority, Councillor Dave McLuckie, who said the report was "unjustified and unhelpful".

He said: "I want to make it clear that we think the Audit Commission does a valuable job in monitoring the performance of public bodies, including police forces and authorities - including looking at how efficiently we record crime data - but that does not mean it is perfect.

"The reality is that it was the commission's failure to adequately explain changes in its methodology, which led to the apparent downgrading of our rating on crime recording.

"To quote a senior official, the commission has acknowledged that 'if our key lines of enquiry had remained unchanged, your score would not have been reduced'. In those circumstances, I find the comments from the commission spokesman surprising, unhelpful and unjustified."

Cleveland Chief Constable Sean Price said he had constantly raised concerns about the process.

"The Audit Commission agreed with us that there was a lack of clarity," he said. "As a result of our work, a national review has been ordered and further guidelines have been issued.

"Cleveland Police has made major strides in recent years, which have seen crime fall and detections rise.

"This progress has been matched behind the scenes as well.

"The public can be assured that we are determined to continue this progress and we shall continue to ensure our recording of statistics is scrupulously accurate."

Yesterday's report in The Northern Echo carried a Your Say logo which suggested that Cleveland Police had received a "poor" rating. The rating was, in fact, "good" and we apologise for any false impression given.