TOUGH new targets have been set for Thames Valley Police to reduce burglary and car crime drastically over the next five years.

Home Secretary Jack Straw says domestic burglaries should be slashed by 40 per cent in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire by 2004.

And he wants vehicle crime cut by a third over the same period.

The targets are among the toughest demanded of any police area in the UK. Burglaries have to be cut from the 14,434 recorded between April 1998 and last March, to just 8,660 in five years' time.

Over the same period, car crime has to drop from 49,047 cases to 34,333.

A Thames Valley spokesman said the tough targets could only be achieved with public co-operation.

He said: "It's a partnership with everyone in the community, and if we don't work together these targets will be impossible to achieve."

The challenging crime reduction targets were unveiled yesterday as part of an ambitious strategy.

"For the first time, people will be able to measure the success of the fight against crime in their own backyards," Mr Straw said.

Story date: Tuesday 15 February

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