POLICE in North Yorkshire have seen a dramatic improvement in standards of crime recording, a report from the Audit Commission has shown.

The force covering England's largest county has seen results improve from a red grading, meaning that recording is not up to a satisfactory standard, to a green under the commission's ''traffic light'' system.

It was one of only three forces to achieve this level of improvement and is now in the top eight nationally rated as good overall for quality of information and management arrangements. It was highlighted in the Audit Commission report as a case study in good practice.

When the national crime recording standards were introduced in 2002, it proved difficult for the force to meet Audit Commission standards and a major overhaul was launched with successful results.

The force has introduced a new crime recording unit and appointed a crime registrar, dedicated to receiving calls from the public relating to crime and creating reports immediately so that all operational staff have access to crime data as soon as possible.

A force spokesman said: "This not only improves compliance against a standard but also increases the potential to recover property and arrest offenders earlier.

"Systems have been introduced to ensure that a trained and dedicated team of staff are available to provide advice and guidance on crime recording matters and the force has introduced an audit structure to ensure standards are maintained and improved.

"We have developed an ongoing training programme for operational staff and the police authority is very much involved in the way we record, investigate and monitor crime and its associated trends.

"The force is not complacent and will strive to maintain standards and ensure that all potential racial incidents are identified. The appointment of a diversity inspector should further enhance our performance in the coming year.''

* The force has recorded the country's largest increase in arrests at 17pc, according to new Home Office figures.

The figures, comparing performance in 2002-2003 with the previous year, show that arrests rose from 21,002 to 24,494, a rate of increase rivalled only by Greater Manchester Police.

On detection rates, figures showed that this month, 37pc of crimes had been solved in North Yorkshire, a figure believed to be the best in England and Wales