A NEW survey has labelled Greater Manchester Police the worst force in England and Wales.

The survey, commissioned by a national Sunday newspaper, looked at performance in several areas, including detection rates, complaints from the public, response times to serious crime, speed at answering 999 calls and levels of absenteeism.

GMP came out worst, below the Metropolitan police and every other force in England and Wales.

The county has the highest crime rate in the country, 14,000 offences for every 100,000 people, but the force's clear up rate is among the poorest with only 22 per cent of reported crime resulting in a caution or conviction.

Sick levels are also among the worst, with officers each taking an average of two weeks off a year.

David McCrone, Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, says the survey does not give the full picture as funding levels and geography are not taken into account.

He says better comparisons will be able to be made by Home Secretary David Blunkett's new standards unit if there is accurate reporting and national standards.

"The performance of Greater Manchester Police has been deemed to be continuously improving by Her Majesty's inspectors," said Mr McCrone.

"However, we are a force that ensures we have a rigorous approach to crime reporting and recording and that can sometimes count against us."