Oxfordshire's chief constable is urging politicians not to play political football with the area's crime figures in response to a Tory advert he claims is an "abuse of statistics".

An advert placed in today's Oxford Mail by the Conservative Party attacking Labour's record on law and order claimed to show a 150 per cent increase in violent crime in Oxford.

However, the wording of the advert was changed after the Oxford Mail noticed figures in fact showed violent crime for all of Thames Valley -- not just the city.

Chief Constable Peter Neyroud attacked the Tories' use of statistics, arguing that there had been a massive shift in the police's approach to recording crime -- which meant more violent incidents now had to be logged -- and this was not explained in the advert.

"It's an abuse of statistics, rather than a use of statistics, and, as such, is calculated to raise people's fear of crime in quite an unjustifiable way," he said.

The advert reveals there were 32,492 violent incidents in Thames Valley during the 2003-04 financial year, compared with 12,990 from 1998 to 1999.

Mr Neyroud said the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in 2002 meant a significant number of offences were now included in crime figures, which had previously not been logged.

Police now record any crime they become aware of, including alcohol-related scuffles where those involved do not press charges.

In previous years, figures reflected the number of incidents where victims had made complaints or where police investigated crimes with a view to prosecution.

Violent crime is still increasing. From April last year to February this year, there were about 8,800 violent incidents in Oxfordshire, compared to 7,600 in the same period in 2003-04, police said.

But Mr Neyroud said police were now focusing on domestic violence, and encouraging victims to report incidents more actively than ever before. Clampdowns on alcohol-related violence, such as Operation Santa over the festive season, also resulted in more violent incidents being recorded.

Mr Neyroud said he would be writing an open letter to all political parties asking them to avoid using statistics in an "unethical" way which made people feel they were increasingly at risk.

"I want them to understand that if they indulge in a non-ethical slanging match, they are going to have a significant impact on the fear of crime," he said.

But local Tory parliamentary candidates, who emphasised they had spent time with local officers and supported their efforts, said the public did feel Oxford had become a more violent place.

Despite Thames Valley Police having record numbers of officers, they said there were too few bobbies and police were bogged down by paperwork.

Oxford West and Abingdon Tory parliamentary candidate Amanda McLean said: "People's perception is that they are less safe."

Oxford East parliamentary candidate Virginia Morris added: "People feel we are living in a lawless society now."

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, who represents Labour, said: "I don't think the public wants violent crime to be made an issue for political point-scoring. We should all pull together to defeat violent crime and support the police."