TWO North-East police forces have been told a "quantum leap forward" is needed in the way they handle calls from the public.

Durham and Cleveland forces were rated only "fair" in an analysis by the Chief Inspector of Constabulary.

The Home Office said such a rating meant the police were falling short of the standards the public demanded.

It wants all forces to achieve the standard reached by the only three forces judged -excellent -Hampshire, Kent and the West Midlands.

Those forces hit targets of answering 90 per cent of calls within ten seconds, and to answer calls within an average of 30 seconds. The report did not reveal how far short of those targets the country's other 40 forces fell during the year to March.

But Inspector Kate Flannery said: "The significant reduction in most types of crime in recent years has not been matched by increases in levels of public confidence and satisfaction. This can partly be attributed to poor first-contact and inadequate follow-up to a call for assistance."

The report highlighted how most forces were failing to match the quality, speed of response and professionalism of private sector call centres.

In the worst, unnamed, cases, centralised police call centres had led to delays of 24 or even 48 hours in sending officers to the scene of a crime.

North Yorkshire and North-umbria were rated good, improving from a fair performance from the previous year.

Cleveland also improved its performance from both the previous two years, when it was condemned as poor.

The Home Office said it hoped to introduce a single number for non-emergency calls, which made up 70 per cent of 999 calls.

It said that by 2008, every household would know the names, phone number and e-mail address of its neighbourhood or community police officers.