THE AMOUNT of neighbourhood policing in Oxfordshire is set to more than treble by the end of the year.

Police have said an "army of uniform" will be created to cover every town and village in the county.

A total of 166 police community support officers (PCSOs) will be on patrol in Oxfordshire by the end of the year. At the end of 2006 there were just 47 in the county. Numbers are already up to 75.

Oxford will see the greatest increase, with 59, compared to 20 at present.

The Cherwell local police area, meanwhile, will have 26, compared to the current ten and South Oxfordshire will have 30, compared to 15 now. There will also be a rise in the Vale of White Horse with 29, up from 19, and West Oxfordshire will have 22, up from 11.

The increase in numbers is largely funded by the Home Office as part of a national neighbourhood policing initiative.

However, some officers will also be funded by local authorities - including Oxford City Council, which is paying for ten.

Many of the PCSOs have already been recruited and are either undergoing procedural checks, or have embarked on ten-week training programmes.

Once on the street, each PCSO will be supported by neighbourhood specialist officers - experienced police officers, who will stay on their beat full-time.

Inspector Andy Talbot said every town and village in the county would be covered.

He said: "The target is to get these people in place by March 2008, though most will be in place by the end of this year.

"Every blade of grass is part of a neighbourhood, which will be covered by a neighbourhood team, including PCSOs.

"The PCSOs provide visible reassurance, reducing the fear of crime and tackling antisocial behaviour. They are there to deal with quality of life issues which affect people in the areas where they live. They will be out and about, talking to people and becoming well known. That also increases the flow of intelligence."

Mr Talbot said PCSOs had a proven track record of reducing crime.

He said Blackbird Leys and Greater Leys had seen a 14.8 per cent fall in reported crime in the period April 2006 to February 2007, compared to the same period 12 months earlier - before neighbourhood policing had begun. There are three PCSOs working in the area.

"It will make a difference to people's lives," he said. "Lots of people feel safer."

And he insisted it was not just people on urban estates who would notice the difference. "In rural areas, people will also see PCSOs out in their villages. People feel vulnerable and we need to put that right. PCSOs will be providing the visibility that police officers have struggled to provide in the past few years. They will be the visible arm of policing."

Mr Talbot said the force was pleased with the quality of the people it was recruiting.

Neighbourhood policing was launched throughout Oxfordshire last year, having been piloted a year earlier in West Oxfordshire.

Chief Inspector Dennis Evernden, the West Oxfordshire area commander, said: "There will be an army of uniform."

Dismissing suggestions that PCSOs were not as effective as fully-trained constables, he added: "They give people access to all our resources - from bomb squad and CID to roads policing - exactly as people would get if they approached a constable. But PCSOs won't be distracted from their duties to perform other duties. You can ring 999, 24-hours-a-day, and we will send you a cop. But that's not what people want. They want someone in uniform they can engage with.

"They want someone to tackle this low-level crime, and someone they can talk to."