Crime statistics for the South Oxfordshire area

The low violence rates in South Oxfordshire make it the safest place in the Thames Valley Police area, which covers the three counties of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.

Just 4.5 people per 1,000 of the population were the subject of a violent attack in the 12 months up to March 2000 and a mere 0.2 per 1,000 were robbed.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: "This is by far the safest area of the force when it comes to violent crime and robbery."

There were also just four offences of house burglary per 1,000 population, putting it second to North Oxfordshire on 3.2. The police spokesman said: "South Oxfordshire was a brand new policing area last year and performed well.

"But this year it's performing very, very well. In the first three months of this year, from April 1, all crime has gone down 17 per cent, burglaries are down eight per cent and vehicle crime is down 42 per cent.

"People feel it's a rural area and do have a perception that crime is all around them, and it's not actually the case at all. Officers are trying to push into

these rural communities rather than withdraw from them."