THE decreasing time police spend fighting petty crime is fuelling Oxford’s homelessness problem and potentially leading to deaths, a councillor has said.

Alex Hollingsworth said bike thefts, burglaries and shoplifting not being investigated means the crisis which has led to about 100 people living on Oxford’s streets is getting worse.

Mr Hollingsworth said: “There are significant pieces of crime that I know from personal and family experience that are not a priority of the police, to the point of doing absolutely nothing about them because they don’t have the resources.

“[Those crimes] are directly linked to drug dealing and drug use, something that is contributing massively to our homelessness problem.”

In Oxford between February 2018 and January, nearly seven out of 10 incidents reported to police led to no further action being taken.

Mr Hollingsworth, executive board member for planning and transport, added: “Those issues of burglary and shoplifting and bicycle thefts, which are frankly falling off the agenda as far as the police are concerned, are fuelling drug use and quite possibly deaths in the city.”

But he said a city council-supported drugs taskforce set up last year is doing a ‘good job squeezing at the supply end’ of the city’s drug market.

About 29 per cent of all of the incidents which were resolved by police in Oxford between February 2018 and January involved either bicycle theft, shoplifting, burglary or drugs.

But according to TVP, 69 per cent of incidents marked as complete in the city were filed away with no further action taken.

In more than half of those 3,273 cases, the investigations were deemed to be complete but no suspect had been identified.

In 14 per cent of cases, police said they were unable to prosecute their suspect.

In another 21 cases, formal action was judged not to be in the public interest.

Further investigation was deemed not to be in the public interest in another four incidents.

Supt Joe Kidman, local policing area commander for Oxford City, said: “The Oxford drugs taskforce has seen reductions in public drug dealing and drug use in the city.

"This initiative has been well received and appreciated by the communities affected by this issue.

“Additionally, our Stronghold campaign continues to work in partnership to tackle serious and organised crime including drug dealing.

“Resourcing is a challenge in the current climate as we continue to deal with more complex crimes such as child exploitation, domestic abuse and sexual offences. However, we have protected our Neighbourhood Policing Teams.”

The force said burglary has decreased by 20 per cent in the last year. Bike theft has dropped by 28 per cent and shoplifting by 25 per cent, it added.