A NEW service which provides a link between the public and their local police officer is off the ground in West Oxfordshire.

Whosmybobby.co.uk is a Thames Valley Police website specifically for the district, which provides up-to-date information about neighbourhood policing.

Residents can access contact numbers and emails for their local police team, details of crime in the area and top policing priorities.

If it proves popular, the scheme could be extended to the rest of the force's area and nationwide.

On Monday, police said the site had already received more than 13,000 hits.

The website was officially launched on Thursday when police officers drove a 1966 Morris Minor called Bobby to London's New Scotland Yard and back.

It is part of a drive to return to the old idea of everyone knowing the name of their local bobby in a bid to raise the profile of the police and address community concerns.

Chief Insp Dennis Evernden, area commander for west Oxfordshire, said: "Fifty-seven per cent of people in west Oxfordshire know their local officer.

"We're doing a good job and this is a way of taking it to another level."