POLICE only attend about six out of every ten crimes in Oxfordshire, it has emerged.

Force chiefs have vowed to have staff visit every victim of crime if required under a new initiative following criticism from the public.

The scheme is being piloted in south Oxfordshire and will be rolled out across the county later this year.

But data obtained by The Herald from Thames Valley Police reveals the situation that senior officers are trying to correct.

For one week in March, officers failed to attend 41 per cent of crimes reported in Oxfordshire. These included two sex crimes, 18 violent attacks, 39 thefts, 17 reports of weapons, seven thefts from cars, ten thefts of cars, two domestic incidents, a kidnap and ten burglaries.

During that week, a couple were violently assaulted by a gang of teenagers in Hertford Street, East Oxford.

Despite emergency calls, police never arrived, but have since sent the couple a formal apology following an internal investigation.

The 44-year-old man, who does not want to be named, said: "If this is the situation then it is shocking and inexcusable.

"Police are either incompetent or under-resourced. It must be the latter.

"We didn't know why we were attacked and felt scared and wanted someone to make sure we were safe. If police had arrived, they would have found the gang in the street.

"The fear hasn't gone away because I don't think people ever tried to solve this attack and it's worrying because those who did this know the police don't come out and can carry on doing it."

Ray Reynolds, 77, of Springfield Road, Wantage, has had several vehicles stolen from his farms in Grove and East Hanney. He said: "They don't come out, they just give you a crime number and ask if it's insured.

"You expect them to come out and see you.

"When I went to the police station the day after my cattle trailer was stolen a couple of years back, they just told me it was probably in Ireland by now."

The data for crime attendance between March 3 and 9 was secured using the Freedom of Information Act. It shows the public reported 1,482 crimes, but officers only attended 863 of them.

Chief Superintendent Shaun Morley said: "We would like to go to every single crime, but there simply aren't enough resources to attend every single one. The figures show why we are changing the policy because clearly we are not giving the service we could do.

"Often the victim doesn't want to see an officer if they just need a crime number, in the case of a credit card fraud, for example.

"Some crimes have no witnesses and very little forensic evidence, but there will always be in-depth questioning by officers to determine this and we'll always send someone out in those cases."

Mr Morley said some of the crimes in the statistics might have had another level of police response: ie an assault victim going to a police station to lay the complaint there or making an appointment to see an officer later and that would not show up in the way the force collated the results for The Herald.

However, the force was unable to supply the facts if this happened.

A police spokesman said two sexual crimes that were not attended by officers were reports of a flasher exposing himself and details were passed to neighbourhood officers.

In November last year, a pilot scheme was launched in south Oxfordshire under which police promised to visit every crime victim if they requested.

Before the scheme started, between 30 and 40 per cent of victims were visited by a police officer. However, since the pilot started, about 80 per cent of victims get a visit.

POLICE have pledged to visit every victim of crime in South Oxfordshire as part of a new scheme.

Victims, if they request it, are being paid a visit by a police officer every time they report a crime - even for small incidents like smashed windows.

Officers said they wanted to reassure victims of low-level trouble such as car crime, criminal damage or shed and garage break-ins.

In the past, police would only attend a crime if there was a good chance officers could solve it.

South Oxfordshire police commander, Superintendent Andy Murray said: "Crime solving is not the objective of this, but it may well be the spin-off.

"The primary objective is better quality of service to victims.

"All our surveys show us when we speak to people face to face they tell us they have a better quality of service. We think victims of crime deserve a lot more than just a letter."

About 79 response and neighbourhood police officers and 32 police community support officers have been carrying out the home visits since the scheme started.

DISABLED Angela Hallam, 73, fell victim to a doorstep conman who fleeced her of £17,000 - her life savings.

Miss Hallam, of Drayton, said: "The police should have come out to me because of the amount of money taken, my age and the fact I was living alone. I've still been having problems and they more or less told me to go away when I spoke to them, they've been very rude."

Elaine Gilder's mother had her purse stolen by a pickpockets in Broadway, Didcot, last summer. The 52-year-old, of Abingdon Road, Didcot, said: "There should be more police attendance because it feels like they've failed. They never came to the house and we've had no contact with them since."

Paul Holligan, 30, was among a dozen victims police refused to visit when thieves went on theft spree stealing belongings from vehicles at an Abingdon car park in March.

Mr Holligan was playing football at Tilsley Park when the thieves broke into his Volkswagen Beetle and stole personal possessions worth about £650. He said: "I think it would have made a difference if the police had come. It seems like the break-ins were done by a professional gang." The force said it did not attend because there were no witnesses or CCTV of the incident.

Design engineer Stephen Davies only received a visit from police officers 11 days after his £13,000 caravan was stolen in October, 2006.

Mr Davies, 50, of Busby Close, Stonesfield, said: "The police weren't interested in the crime or any of the evidence we collected. The assumption was there would be no point in checking things because the perpetrators would be wearing gloves, but you can't guarantee that was the case. The police later sent me a letter saying they had been unable to identify the perpetrator or find the caravan, but it was dated the same day I had reported the crime."

10:42am Tuesday 17th June 2008

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