HERTS has one of the leading police constabulary s in the country, according to a new report. The report from Her Majesty s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has assessed Herts as good . Chief constable Frank Whiteley said: This is a positive assessme

HERTS has one of the leading police constabulary's in the country, according to a new report.

The report from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has assessed Herts as "good".

Chief constable Frank Whiteley said: "This is a positive assessment and reflects the hard work and professionalism of police officers and staff."

Herts police have now been given a "good" status for the past four years.

Mr Whiteley said: "Four years of good assessments by the HMIC is reflected in sustained reductions in overall crime across the county and increasing crime detection rates."

He added, however, that police in Herts were not complacent about the results.

"We remain determined to continue to improve services and make Herts an even safer county," he said.

Ian Laidlaw-Dickson, chairman of the Herts Police Authority, said the assessment was in line with the police authority's view.

"The good assessment is the result of hard work and dedication," he said.

Under the Police Performance Assessment Framework - a key report on policing - an assessment is made on seven main categories which can be graded from excellent to poor.

In the case of Herts police, it received an "excellent" assessment for satisfaction and fairness and a "good" assessment for tackling crime; serious crime and public protection; protecting vulnerable people; neighbourhood policing; local priorities and resources and efficiency.

In its report, the HMIC said that Herts police has "a culture of self-improvement" due to "mature performance management structures".

There were no major areas of concern, said the report.

The report added that the main challenges for Herts police was to maintain and improve on its high standards.

Herts police - which has a budget of £164.2 million - now employs 2,202 police officers with 223 community support officers and 268 special constables.

For Cambridgeshire police, the HMCI said the past 12 months had seen "considerable improvement" in the areas of protecting vulnerable people and the delivery of neighbourhood policing.

But it said that one of the key challenges of the future would be to balance resources to support neighbourhood policing with increasing operational pressures.

The HMIC report said, too, that after Cambs police received a "poor" rating for managing financial and physical resources it had made "significant progress" in the area.

Cambs police has a budget of £110.5 million and employed 1,402 police officers with 184 community support officers and 202 special constables.