Essex Police forces are failing to record thousands of crimes each year, inspectors have warned.

Officers are failing to record around 6,700 crimes each year, with 2,500 reports of violence not being properly tracked.

Inspectors said the force had made "excellent progress" in recording crime since 2014 and it expects the improvements to continue.

Inspector of Constabulary Wendy Williams praised improvements that had been made at West Mercia, adding: "It is incredibly important that police forces get crime recording right.

"Doing so improves the effectiveness of investigations and makes it all the more likely that victims will receive justice.

"While there are still some concerns, victims of crime can be more confident than ever that their crimes will be recorded in a proper manner."

The police watchdog reviewed how four forces, Essex, West Mercia, North Yorkshire and Warwickshire, record crime data and published reports on the performance of each one.

Essex Police's deputy chief constable Pippa Mills said: "We will build on this promising result and ensure that we do everything we can to protect victims by recording crimes accurately.

"I am really pleased that the vast majority of crimes recorded on our system are recorded correctly, and this is down to a great deal of hard work from both officers and police staff.

"Work is continuing to ensure we improve even further."

A National Police Chiefs' Council spokesman said: "We are working to further improve the accuracy of crime reporting, which is governed by detailed counting rules set out by the Home Office.

"The accurate recording of crime can be influenced by many factors which may not be clear at the beginning of an investigation."