POLICE failed to reach targets they set themselves 12 months ago for dealing with crime in Lancashire.

The official statistics show Lancashire police have failed to hit the targets in several key areas.

The police authority on Thursday will hear that reported crime across the county fell by 2.7 per cent although the official target was five per cent.

More than 670 drug dealers have been arrested over the last year and burglary rates have also fallen.

And public nuisance and disorder fell by 3.1 per cent although the force's aim was to cut it by five per cent.

The constabulary is also failing to answer emergency 999 calls on time.

The aim was supposed to answer 97 per cent of 999 calls within 10 seconds but fell short of the target by 3.5 per cent.

But there were also some positive results to emerge from official statistics for the last 12 months.

A survey has revealed 92 per cent of people who needed to call out the police were satisfied with the response they got.

The number of people injured in road accidents fell by 8.5 per cent and the vast majority of violent crime in the county last year was detected.

Acting Deputy Chief Constable David Smith said: "The force's year end performance figures cover a range of objectives and while the constabulary has performed extremely well in some of them, there is room for improvement in others.

"We knew we had set ourselves extremely challenging targets this time last year and it took a few months to start making real progress.

"This achievement must be seen in the light of the major changes and reorganisation the constabulary has just gone through."

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