THE award-winning police team that patrols the Barton estate is celebrating falling crime rates.

In the last year there have been 367 crimes reported in the neighbourhood.

This compares with 475 reported the previous year and 514 the year before that.

Sgt Jim Holmes of the Barton Neighbourhood Team, which recently won Thames Valley Police’s highest accolade, the Shrievalty Merit Award, said within the crimes reported so called ‘serious acquisitive crime’ had also seen a welcome fall.

He said: “Serious acquisitive crime is things like domestic burglary of homes, theft of a motor vehicle, theft from a motor vehicle and robbery of people and businesses.

“This has fallen 12 per cent, from 68 last year to 51 this year.”

But he admitted some areas still needed work.

A spate of attacks on cars in September saw criminal damage to vehicles rise from 42 cases last year to 56 this year. Cases of bullying and harassment on the estate also rose slightly, from 14 to 18.

He said: “These are typically neighbourhood disputes between families on the estate where one will call the other names.

“And we do get a lot of them.

“We had some problems with youths in the Basset Road area but we were able to get on top of the problems quite quickly in terms of antisocial behaviour.

“I think the reasons we have seen a drop in overall crime is down to things like the youth work projects which are going on in the estate, alongside targeted patrols, where we patrol the right areas at the right time.”

A recent survey of 200 residents revealed antisocial behaviour, dog fouling and traffic issues are the key problems people in Barton, Sandhills and Risinghurst want police to tackle.

The results from the survey reveal the changing issues on the Barton estate.

In the past police priorities have included tackling drugs and cars speeding through the streets.