Drunken crime plagues towns

7:18pm Tuesday 25th March 2008

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DRUNKEN crime in the county's town centres is continuing to soar despite major police efforts to tackle night-time disorder.

Oxfordshire's top officer Chief Supt Shaun Morley sent extra officers out on to the streets to combat trouble caused by pub and club-goers last summer.

But during the past 11 months, violent crime increased by more than three per cent and public order crimes went up 10 per cent.

Last night, Mr Morley admitted most of the violent crime is happening in town and city centres when the offenders are drunk.

But the number of violent crimes would have been even higher if the streets had not been flooded with extra police at night time, Mr Morley added.

Police are now taking advice from forces in Blackpool, Bournemouth and Cardiff to tackle the rising tide of drunken crime.

Mr Morley said: "Our analysis shows the marked increase in violent crime is related to night-time drinking.

"We have seen this in all our market towns and it is occurring over a longer period of time because of extended hours.

"Even Thursday has become a new problem, with clubs extending the weekend, and this causes pressure on policing town centres.

"I am disappointed violent crime has increased, but we are determined to reduce it over the next couple of years.

"We have put more officers into town centres and this is putting extra pressure on officers."

Since April there has been 10,771 violent crimes in Oxfordshire - which is 350 more incidents than the same period a year before - while violence against the person has gone up by 429 crimes.

Among a new batch of initiatives police are considering borrowing from other forces is the introduction of taxi marshals to prevent fights in late-night queues.

Police have started patrolling inside pubs and clubs and are collecting data on night-time assaults from accident and emergency wards at Banbury's Horton Hospital and the John Radcliffe in Oxford to draw up a map of violent hot-spots.

Mr Morley added: "If we didn't have the extra officers then the figures could have been much worse. I am pretty sure our actions, and handing out fixed penalty notices for disorder early on, has stopped trouble escalating.

"There needs to be a change in the drinking culture. I don't want to be a killjoy, people should be allowed to go out and enjoy themselves, but it does need a degree of responsibility."

Police estimated the number of drunken assaults could be even higher because many go to hospital but never report the incident to police.

The figures were released to the Thames Valley Police Authority Oxfordshire Police Committee last week.

Since April, overall crime has fallen by 9.5 per cent, or 2,300 crimes.

Burglary and car crime is at the lowest it has been since 1989, with more than 1,000 fewer reports than the same period a year before.