Vandals to face 'zero tolerance' (From Witney Gazette)

Vandals to face 'zero tolerance'

2:20pm Tuesday 7th March 2006 in Witney By Andrew Alexander

POLICE in West Ox- fordshire have promised to attend all reported incidents of criminal damage, no matter how small.

Senior officers have decided to try a 'zero tolerance' approach to acts of vandalism to buildings or cars, because it accounts for 41 per cent of the district's crime.

But at the same time, police station opening hours are to be slashed at Carterton and Chipping Norton.

Elsewhere in the county, when residents report something like a damaged wing mirror, the crime is logged, but usually no further action is taken.

In West Oxfordshire, people can expect an officer to attend the scene of the crime to look for evidence, and police say the measure is proving successful in the six weeks since it began.

Insp Darren Carver, from Thames Valley Police, said: "Criminal damage is a massive issue, and we're making it our priority.

"Every incident of criminal damage is assigned an investigating officer, all the forensic opportunities are seized, and we'll do house-to-house inquiries, where possible, to try to get the offenders."

Insp Darren Carver, from Thames Valley Police

"Every incident of criminal damage is assigned an investigating officer, all the forensic opportunities are seized, and we'll do house-to-house inquiries, where possible, to try to get the offenders.

"Since we've had this change of priorities, our figures are falling.

"As far as we're concerned, there's now a zero tolerance to criminal damage.

"If we catch the offenders, we will be seeking prosecution where possible.

"A very high percentage of criminal damage is caused by young people.

"We want to emphasise that what may seem like fun to them badly affects other people.

"Every time a crime occurs, insurance premiums for that postcode are affected, and damage to public property directly affects council taxes."

According to Home Office figures, each incidence of criminal damage in West Oxfordshire in the last year cost £510.

There were 941 offences during that time, and the majority of the £564,600 total cost is to property owners and insurers.

The mayor of Witney, Steve Holborough, said he hoped the decision would combat vandalism of town property.

He said: "Criminal damage costs us thousands of pounds a year.

"And if you keep having to repair things like playground equipment, you don't have money to put in to anything new.

"I think no crime is too small to be investigated. If we're going to get officers going to every reported crime, I think that's great.

"It'll certainly help restore the public's confidence in the police."

Insp Carver denied other areas of police work would suffer as a consequence. He said: "It's just a redirection of resources. It doesn't take long to go out and knock on a few doors. It's a matter of about 18 crimes a week across 300 square miles. But when it's your largest problem, you have to do something about it."

Police said their response time to incidents of criminal damage would depend on their seriousness. Spokesman, Victoria Bartlett, said: "If it's a crime in progress and somebody says they can see the person who's just damaged their car running away, we'll send someone immediately. If it's a case of someone throwing an egg at a window, and they phone us days afterwards it happened, it might be longer, but the point is we will get to all of them."