Essex Police ranked 6th out of the country’s 43 forces for the accuracy of its crime reporting.

An HM Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC) report shows that Essex Police correctly recorded 91.67 per cent of crimes.

The national rate was 81 per cent.

Essex Police and Crime Commissioner Nick Alston said: “Since becoming Police and Crime Commissioner I have taken extensive steps to explore the recording of crime in Essex and satisfy myself that the police processes are ethical and robust.

“The integrity of the Essex Police process for recording crime is significantly higher than the national average, and I expect it to stay there and hopefully improve still further.

“I welcome the HMIC’s report confirming the strong performance of Essex Police in recording crime ethically and accurately.”

Deputy Chief Constable Derek Benson added: “This is good news for the people of Essex as they can trust the integrity of our crime recording.

“That said, we know there is no room for complacency and we will continue to work towards improving this even further. Since receiving our report in August we have been implementing the small number of recommendations it made.

“It was also heartening to see that HMIC acknowledged that we had a victim-centred approach.

“We intend to reinforce and build on these comments to ensure that we remain one of the top performing forces in the country in terms of crime reporting integrity.”