A PLEDGE that police officers will attend every rural crime has sparked concerns from Oxfordshire’s urban population.

Elected police and crime commissioner Anthony Stansfeld has vowed to tackle rural crime and stood on a platform of sorting the issue.

He has claimed the issue was being “ignored” – despite rural crime dropping in the last year.

Mr Stansfeld said: “We have a real problem with rural crime, especially in South Oxfordshire and parts of Buckinghamshire and it wasn’t being treated as a serious organised crime, which it is.

“I don’t think it was realised that this was being done on such a huge scale.

“In urban areas we have the lowest burglary rate for 15 years.”

Mr Stansfeld, a Conservative, denied there any political motives behind the changes, adding rural offending was a “serious crime”.

A senior police officer has pledged that officers in the city will not be cut.

But an Oxford MP has expressed concerns that crimes which take place in cities and towns will be treated less seriously just because of where they happened.

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith said: “I will be writing to Thames Valley Police to clarify what city crimes will not be attended which will be attended in a rural area.

“At the end of the day a crime is a crime and victims suffer as much whether they live in a rural area as they do if they live in a city.”

North Oxford burglary victim Andrew Webb agreed.

He said: “It should be judged on the seriousness of the crime rather than the location.

“I don’t see how rural crime should be treated any differently.”

Thames Valley Police has announced rural crimes will be dealt with under its “urgent attendance”

policy. This means police officers will aim to be with the caller or victim within one hour.

Last year a total of 359 rural crimes were reported, down by 24 per cent on the year before.

Areas expected to be most affected by the change are South Oxfordshire and the Vale of the White Horse.

Ch Supt Tim De Meyer, head of neighbourhood policing and partnerships, said: “This definition will ensure that we focus on the crimes that target or affect the rural economy. Crime in these categories has gone down in recent years. But there is still more to be done.”

“We are confident that we have got sufficient officers in our more rural areas to deal with the problem. It won’t require more resources. It is a case of working more efficiently.”

Statistics

RURAL crime figures
2011/12
Cherwell and West Oxfordshire: 221
Oxford: 24
South and Vale: 226
Total: 471

2012/13
Cherwell and West Oxfordshire: 134
Oxford: 19
South and Vale: 206
Total: 359