WITHIN minutes of reporting an alarming rise in some crime figures in Thames Valley, Chief Constable Peter Imbert announced that he was attempting to cut 25 per cent in police overtime in a year.

Although there was a decrease in some crimes, sexual offences incre-ased by 10.55 per cent in the first eight months of 1980, burglary by 6.29 per cent and criminal damage by 24.06 per cent.

Faced with demands from members of the Police Authority, at a meeting at Kidlington, that police costs must be cut, Mr Imbert revealed that because of economy calls, he was already planning the overtime reduction.

"It may be a dangerous thing to do in some parts of the Thames Valley," he said. "But I feel we have to play our part in this. The effectiveness of the force has to be paramount. If it is not, then no financial excuse can possibly explain it away."

Police were currently having to work twelve hours a day because of the ongoing prison officers' dispute, he said.

His officers were having to take prisoners from Crown Courts after they had been sentenced, and the only way to do this was by overtime.