A POLICE chief has publicly taken Home Secretary Jack Straw to task for overlooking achievements made in the North-East.

Durham Chief Constable George Hedges has taken the unusual step of writing to Mr Straw, spelling out concerns that the national debate on policing had failed to acknowledge the good things happening outside London.

Mr Hedges, with police authority chairman Joe Knox, said that much of the heartening news from the streets of the North-East in the past six years was being lost because discussion on policing issues was confined largely to London and the metropolitan forces.

They said police morale in Durham and the rest of the region had never been higher.

But they were concerned that officers listening to what was being said nationally might begin to believe they were undervalued, discontented and wanting to leave the service.

Mr Straw was told that, since 1995, nearly 200 more officers were on the beat in the Durham force area and a further 97 would be recruited using extra Government money.

Nine out of ten officers are in operational roles, while uniformed officers were visible for 70 per cent of their time within the communities they served.

The letter also draws Mr Straw's attention to the good work being done to fight crime.

House burglaries have been cut by nearly a half and a policy of reclaiming the streets from the grip of low-level disorder has been introduced.

The letter said: "We are not, and never will be, complacent and are also conscious such information is of little comfort to those who are victims of crime.

"We believe the police service and the Government can take some credit for what is happening on the streets of the North-East, but that good news seems to be lost in the debate which appears to confine itself to London and the metropolitan areas."