Positive result for police force

Nottinghamshire's police force has been declared effective and efficient by Her Majesty's Inspectorate after five years of intense scrutiny.

But inspectors also said the force needed to improve its record on burglaries and thefts from cars.

Improvements in most areas, including tracking major crime and neighbourhood policing were noted in the report.

Chief Constable Steve Green said he welcomed the results and hoped officers could now devote more time to policing.

He added that he now wanted the inspectors to take a step back fom the force because for six months of every year, the main focus of the command team and senior managers had been on attending to the inspections.

"What we have to do now is get even smarter with our use of tactics and intelligence to bring volume crime down even further.

"There is a direct link between drugs, burglary and car crime and will continue to attack this through enforcement and innovation," he added.