I WAS disappointed to see that statements made by Karen Lumley at the Conservative Party conference about violent crime went unchallenged in the Redditch Advertiser (October 20).

There is clear evidence her claims are based on dodgy statistics. Evidence provided, not by me or other opponents of the Tories, but by the police themselves.

The first time these claims were made (August 25), the Advertiser carried a comment from Chief Insp Burnet, who said: "...any increase in violent crime was a concern but due to the changes in the way crime was recorded, no fair comparison could be made between figures from 1999 and those of today.''

She added: "The new system of crime recording means the figures reflect a truer picture than ever before. However, they now include crimes of very low-level violence, such as shoving and pushing, and this will have an impact on the overall figures."

Where measures like Antisocial Behaviour Orders have been used and new Community Safety Officers deployed, there has been a dramatic fall in offences.

The Conservative's simply can't face the fact crime has fallen overall by a quarter since 1997 and police numbers are now at record numbers.

They have nowhere to go when they are talking about crime except to make false claims and to scare people.

Jacqui Smith MP

House of Commons

London