Thames Valley Police has been ranked as the worst in the south east for a number of major crimes, including domestic burglary, homicide and drugs offences.

Latest Home Office figures, published by the Office of National Statistics, revealed that the force consistently ranked lower than its counterparts in the south east region for homicide, theft offences, domestic burglary, vehicle offences, theft from the person, bicycle theft, shoplifting, other theft offences and drugs offences.

Theft offences were recorded to be up by 14 per cent, while vehicles offences saw a 20 per cent rise between September 2016 and September 2017.

As of the year ending September 2017, the force saw 19 homicides, 76,471 theft offences, 7,126 domestic burglaries, 14,841 vehicle offences, 17,620 shoplifting offences and 4,665 drugs offences.

Bicycle thefts were up by 46 per cent while shoplifting was up by 13 percent, but drugs offences and theft from the person were both recorded as being down by three per cent.

Percentage changes for domestic and non-domestic burglaries were not shown as they are affected by classification changes that were introduced from April 2017, with the report saying: “It is not currently possible to make meaningful comparisons over time in these sub-categories.”

TVP insisted the high figures were because it is the largest non-metropolitan force in the country with a large population, “and by its nature does see a higher volume of crime”.

A spokesman said: “Comparison with smaller forces does not give an accurate picture of the impact of crime on our communities. 

“When comparing crimes recorded in the Thames Valley by population it shows that in most crime areas we are below the national average.

“Thames Valley Police takes all crimes seriously and we will always respond to the crimes that affect our communities the most, particularly where threat, harm and risk is at its greatest.

“We are dedicated to solving and preventing crime and we are constantly monitoring reports of crime, so that we can appropriately respond to them to keep people in the Thames Valley safe from harm.”

To see the figures, visit www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/policeforceareadatatables.