POLICE in the Vale of White Horse have launched a month-long operation to clamp down on criminal damage across the district.

As part of Operation Metal, a dedicated team of a sergeant and four PCs will patrol criminal damage hotspots' in marked vehicles and on bicycles in the evenings.

The operation will last for four weeks and will concentrate on the following hotspots:

  • Peachcroft
  • Charter Car Park
  • South Abingdon (including Poets Estate)
  • Cumnor/Botley
  • Abbey Meadows
  • Smiths Wharf
  • Millbrook Square, Grove, and surrounding areas
  • Wantage town centre.

Police said this would be the third time the operation has run in the Vale after previous excellent results. The last time Operation Metal ran, for four weeks in May, there were:

  • 106 arrests
  • 394 stop checks
  • 52 on-the-spot fines given out
  • 100 litres of alcohol seized from underage drinkers.

PC Maria Morrisey, criminal damage co-ordinator for the Vale, said: "In the past this operation has a had a serious impact on levels of criminal damage in Vale.

"Each individual act of criminal damage may not seem a serious crime, but together they can seriously affect an area, making it look uncared for and unsafe.

"It has a major effect on the quailty of life of residents, especially in otherwise peaceful areas like the Vale.

"Operation Metal is about making sure youths who are causing trouble and committing petty crimes will not be tolerated.

"Criminal damage is on a downward trend in the district and we are committed to making sure that continues."