CRIME rates in west and north Wiltshire are likely to rise when Neighbourhood Policing Teams come into force by the summer, according to a senior police officer.

By June next year 90 of these teams will be set up across Wiltshire and Swindon, each headed by a police constable and supported by police community support officers.

At a meeting of the Melksham First community partnership, Inspector Glynn Hookings, community safety officer for Wiltshire Police, said: "We expect neighbourhood policing will lead to recorded crime rising because people will trust us more and therefore will report more crime, which we see as a very positive move.

"Neighbourhood policing is about a partnership approach to long term problems such as speeding, anti-social behaviour among young people and dog fouling.

"In the past I think we (police) have been very good at dealing with immediate problems that people would dial 999 for, but we have sometimes struggled with broader longer term issues."

He also explained the roles of police officers and PCSOs, and said one of the major benefits of boosting the number of PCSOs is the fact they become familiar and trusted faces in the neighbourhoods they cover.

He also said relying more on PCSOs means police officers can spend more time combating serious crimes.

It is estimated that Neighbourhood Policing Teams will spend 95 per cent of their working hours on dedicated policing and will not be called away to take part in major incident investigation.

Over the next few months, Wiltshire Police has a target of recruiting more than 200 PCSOs to cope with the restructuring programme.

Chairman of Melksham Without Parish Council Mike Mills, who was at the meeting, said: "I think in areas where there are not PCSOs at the moment, there probably will be a rise in recorded crime, and I agree this is a good thing because it shows people are happier in reporting crime because they trust the PCSOs.

"In our area of Melksham I don't think restructuring will make that much difference to crime levels though because we already have a very good PCSO in Janet Gould.

"She is well-known by most people in her area and they go to her to report things because that trust is there, and the system does work well."