IF you live in East or West Lancashire you will almost certainly not be reading the full details of the Lancashire police "performance indicators" which cover such things as response times and crime detection rates.

This is because the police authority has decided to publish the detailed results in the Lancashire Evening Post, which covers only a small part of the county.

The authority has a legal duty each year to publish the indicators in a paid-for or free newspaper.

This was the second year it had selected only the Evening Post.

But this is not full coverage by any stretch of the imagination.

Blackburn council leader Malcolm Doherty described the decision as "totally useless" and said the paid-for newspaper which was most read in East Lancashire is the Lancashire Evening Telegraph. He is right.

The authority could have used the Evening Telegraph, the Evening Post and the Evening Gazette, Blackpool, to ensure that people across Lancashire had an opportunity of seeing how their police officers performed.

Alternatively they could have used the free and paid-for weeklies which cover most towns in the county.

Failing that they could have organised a leaflet drop to all residents of Lancashire.

People who live in East and West Lancashire have as much right to see the details as people who live in central Lancashire.

Hopefully members of the police authority will take a closer look at newspaper circulation areas before they make a decision next year.

The world does not revolve around Preston.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.