Report urges police improvements

The report called for improvements from police in England and Wales

Most police forces in England and Wales have "significant" room to improve the way they deal with local people's concerns, a report has concluded.

The Inspectorate of Constabulary report graded police according to how they were implementing commitments in the Policing Pledge.

None of the 43 forces inspected was graded "excellent" and only eight achieved "good" grades.

Thirty-three were rated "fair" while Suffolk and Cumbria were rated "poor".

Leicestershire Police, recently criticised over the case of Fiona Pilkington who committed suicide and unlawfully killed her disabled daughter after repeatedly being abused by local youths, achieved a "good" grade.

Inspectors found some police stations were not open when advertised, while one force abandoned 17% of non-emergency calls in a week after passing them to other departments.

The Policing Pledge was introduced in December 2008 and forces were inspected between April and August this year.