ANTISOCIAL yobs are not out of control in Oxfordshire, a top police officer insisted, despite a police watchdog claiming they were ruling UK streets.

Chf Supt Steve Kirk, head of local policing in the Thames Valley, said the force, which covers Oxfordshire, was performing above the national average in tackling antisocial behaviour.

His comments came as a national report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) released yesterday, said 14 million incidents of antisocial behaviour took place each year – one every two seconds.

Sir Dennis O’Connor, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, said rowdy and abusive behaviour by yobs was a “disease” that had been allowed to grow because police had retreated from the streets since the 1970s.

He said it was time police “reclaimed some neighbourhoods”, and called for a new approach to “restore civility to public spaces”.

Antisocial behaviour refers to any persistent activity that causes alarm, harassment or distress – such as excessive noise, drunken or loutish behaviour and vandalism.

Last night, Chf Supt Kirk said: “We have a good degree of control. I do not recognise that antisocial behaviour is taking over the county. There are individual problems that we are dealing with but it’s certainly not out of control.

“We all know there are savings to be made over the next few years and we have said we will do as much as possible to maintain our front line.”

A survey carried out by HMIC into the way police deal with calls about antisocial behaviour, showed the force was above average in three out of four categories.

Seventy eight per cent of 103 people asked were happy with the way their call was handled and felt the police listened and responded to their concerns.

But only 48 per cent said their call had made a difference to their problem – lower than the national average of 53 per cent.

Chf Supt Kirk said the force would try to “refine” the way it dealt with antisocial behaviour. He added: “We have been good at identifying levels of antisocial behaviour and we are now being more consistent in recording it.

“We have reduced antisocial behaviour in most areas.”

Antisocial behaviour has fallen in Oxfordshire, from 28,000 incidents between September 1 2008 and August 31 2009, to 24,000 the following year – a drop of 13 per cent.

Blackbird Leys parish councillor Brian Lester did not agree with Sir Dennis’s report. He said: “It depends on what you class as antisocial behaviour. Kids letting off steam is part of growing-up.”