People are being asked to complete a short online questionnaire about how they would like to report incidents to the police.

The Control Rooms and Enquiries Department (CR&ED) will soon be introducing an e-communication service which will allow people to communicate with the police via email and text message.

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: "The service will improve public accessibility to Thames Valley Police by allowing people to report minor crimes and incidents, plus a range of non-urgent matters. The public can influence how the service will be used by completing a questionnaire on the Thames Valley Police website.

"The e-communication service will not replace the reporting of urgent and serious crimes or incidents via the 999 telephone system. Introduction of the service will be in phases. This will allow CR&ED to ensure that our service continues to be timely and of high quality."

Chief Supt Liam Macdougall, head of CR&ED, said: “The e-communications service will allow people to communicate with us in a variety of ways and enable us to make the best use of up-to-date technology to deal with their needs. It will make us more accessible to the public, who will be able to contact us in a variety of different ways.

“The service is still in early development, but we hope to have the first phase up and running by February 2009. I would encourage members of the public to complete the short questionnaire so we can make sure the service fully meets the needs of our residents and communities.”

The questionnaire can be found at www.thamesvalley.police.uk/press/e-comm-feedback.htm