Leicestershire police are "poor" at solving crimes but "excellent" at reducing deaths and injuries on the roads.

These were among the findings in a report published today by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), which measured the force on 22 aspects of policing.

Senior officers defended themselves against the inspectors' finding that officers were not solving as high a proportion of day-to-day offences such as vandalism, burglary and car crime as some other forces.

They said crime was falling and they were rated as successful at tackling more serious crime, including the use of guns or knives.

They said they had also suffered in the report because they were one of only a handful of forces in the UK using the restorative justice approach.

This means people caught committing "minor" crimes such as vandalism or shoplifting come face to face with their victims and carry out some form of work for them.

Offenders – about half of them children – have been set tasks including removing graffiti, weeding gardens or doing small jobs at shops from where they had been stealing.

Although the culprit has been identified, Leicestershire police said the more than 3,500 occasions on which the process had been used in the past year did not count as solved crimes in the official figures.

There was better news for the force on the issue which put it in the national spotlight recently – dealing with anti-social behaviour, particularly against vulnerable people.

The force said it had "learned the lessons" of the deaths of Fiona Pilkington and her daughter, Francecca in October, 2007.

Mrs Pilkington killed herself and her daughter after suffering years of torment by yobs at her home in Barwell.

The force and local authorities were criticised for failing to recognise the pattern of abuse.

In the report, the visibility of police on the beat was described as "good" and efforts to reduce deaths and injuries on the roads "excellent".

Zoë Billingham, HMIC inspector for Leicestershire, said: "The tragic deaths of Fiona Pilkington and her daughter two years ago focused attention on the force's ability to deal with anti-social behaviour.

"The force has learned lessons and implemented changes which have improved its overall response.

"Car crime and offences of violence with injury and criminal damage fell last year, while more burglaries and serious sexual offences were solved.

"However, the constabulary's performance in solving crime is poor when compared with similar forces, and more needs to be done to bring crime rates in Leicester city in line with similar areas."

Leicestershire's temporary chief constable, Chris Eyre, said the force had been under-funded by the Government by about £3m a year for several years.

Mr Eyre said: "I am immensely proud of this force and I feel disappointed the report doesn't fully reflect the tremendous work officers and staff are delivering daily.

"Policing is more than achieving national indicators. It is about providing the right level of service to neighbourhoods.

"Thankfully, while issues such as gun crime and serious violence, won't directly affect the majority of us, it is something we must continue to tackle."

The reports for all 43 forces in England and Wales will be available online from Saturday.

www.mypolice.org.uk

Leicestershire police performance, 2009 - shows category and rating

LOCAL CRIME AND POLICING overall  -  Fair

Reducing crime Fair

Solving crimes Poor

Visible presence in neighbourhood Good

Neighbourhood policing Meeting Standard

PROTECTION FROM SERIOUS HARM Overall Fair

Investigating major crime Meeting standard

Suppressing gun crime Fair

Suppressing knife crime Fair

Solving serious sexual offences Fair

Reducing road death and injury Excellent

CONFIDENCE AND SATISFACTION Overall Fair

Public confidence (all agencies) Fair

Service delivery Fair

Comparative satisfaction of BME community Fair

Public confidence (police) Fair

Meeting the Policing Pledge standards Good

Perceptions of anti-social behaviour Fair

VALUE FOR MONEY n/a

Number of police officers and Pcsos Medium/high

Total cost of policing Medium/high

Cost per household Medium/high

Proportion of policing cost met from council tax Low/medium