Police promise to visit every crime victim in Oxford from tomorrow in a bid to reassure the public and cut a rise in minor offences.

The move, which has been successfully piloted in South Oxfordshire over the past 12 months, comes as new figures reveal crime in the county is on the rise.

All crime has increased since April by 1.2 per cent – 297 extra offences – compared to the same period last year.

Police said offences on the rise were largely petty theft, minor antisocial behaviour and shoplifting – the types of crime the police hope to tackle by visiting every victim.

Serious crimes such as burglary, sexual attacks and violent assaults are continuing to drop.

Det Chief Insp Chris Sharp, crime manager for Oxfordshire, denied the rise in total crime was caused by the credit crunch and the country’s slide into economic recession.

He added: “Crime figures tend to fluctuate over shorter periods of time. The rise is largely down to low level thefts – small things like stealing milk bottles from doorsteps and the rise in metal theft.

“But the sort of crimes responsible for the increase will be tackled when we begin our system of attending every crime victim.

“It may be that when we are investigating these low level crimes we discover patterns which will help us bring down the figures.

“I am happy that serious acquisitive crime, such as burglary, is down because these have the most impact on victims. But we cannot afford to be complacent.”

The latest Thames Valley Police figures show that between April and October total crime rose from 25,660 offences to 25,957.

The figures show increases in robbery of personal property, theft from vehicles and possession of cannabis.

Shoplifting offences across the county have risen by 400 offences – 25 per cent – and minor thefts and nuisance has risen by 10 per cent, or 720 crimes.

Total crime in Oxford increased by 290 offences, West Oxfordshire saw a rise of 200 offences, the Vale of White Horse suffered an increase of 257 crimes, while in Cherwell there have been 120 more offences.

Only in South Oxfordshire, where the policy of visiting every crime victim has been in place for a year, has crime fallen – down 13 per cent – which represents a total of 585 fewer offences.

Since the scheme began, police estimate officers have visited an average of 40 extra crime victims every week.

No data has yet been released to establish a link between police visits to victims and a decrease in criminal offences, however.

Police community support officers are sent to visit victims of minor and low-level crime which would not have been investigated before if there were no obvious lines of inquiry.

The scheme is aimed at reassuring the public rather than as a crime-fighting tool.

But Mr Sharp said that by visiting victims, police would be more visible in areas where crime occured – reducing re-offending.

Incidents of criminal damage fell by 20 per cent in South Oxfordshire during the pilot scheme.