As the Government came under fire this week for escalating crime figures, Hertsmere moved one step closer to paying for extra police officers to make residents safer.

The crime statistics, released by the Home Office on Tuesday, showed crime in the borough, like the rest of the country, has risen over the past year.

And, in one of the first schemes of its kind, Hertsmere Borough Council has decided to survey 8,000 homes to find out if people are willing to pay around £3 more in Council Tax per year to fund four extra beat officers.

The Home Office figures show the number of crimes reported to police in Hertsmere has jumped by 1,526 over the past year, with 7,333 offences between April 1999 and March this year, compared to 5,807 in the same period from 1998 to 1999.

Robberies in the borough almost doubled from 28 to 49, violent crime rose from 681 to 1,000 and burglaries and vandalism also went up.

The figures also follow recent announcements by Hertfordshire Constabulary that it could be 200 officers short by 2002, partly due to officers in Hertsmere returning to the Metropolitan Police after temporary secondment to Hertfordshire; and that Hertsmere is to get only one out of 45 extra officers to be employed across the county over the next two years.

It was decided, at the borough's policy and resources committee meeting last Wednesday, that consultation on the beat bobbies plan should go-ahead in September, using a sample 8,000 households, at a maximum cost of £4,600, rather than all 38,758 households in the borough, which would have cost up to £20,000.

It is proposed that homes, randomly selected from the electoral register, will be sent questionnaires asking them to say 'yes' or 'no' to the plan.

Councillor Stuart Nagler, committee chairman and council leader, commented on the plan in the light of this week's crime figures: 'I think we have had it. People are concerned.

'A lot of crime is caused by very few people. It makes no difference whether it is breaking into your car or violence, it is done when they feel safe. We want people to feel, and villains to feel, that there is a very good chance that they will be caught. I want to stop crime before it happens.'

Hertsmere MP James Clappison said the figures supported the council's plan, but added the situation had improved since Hertfordshire Constabulary's takeover from the Metropolitan Police in April, with more officers and visible policing.

Residents raised their safety fears at a meeting, held by the Hertfordshire Police Authority, in Borehamwood last Wednesday, including one woman who said: 'People from Leeming Road and other areas have to live in an atmosphere of intimidation and violence.'

But the opposition groups have called on the Conservative council to delay consultation, raising concerns that: the scheme is being rushed into; more than one-in-five households need to be consulted; the council would not have enough control over the officers; there would be problems with their pensions; the Government could reduce grants to the council if Council Tax was increased and funds for extra police were contained in Government plans.

Mr Nagler denied the scheme was being rushed; and said the current priority was to carry out consultation, of a sample of households because of cost limitations, to see if the response was favourable and the council had a strong case to put to the police authority.

He criticised Hertfordshire police's allocation of one extra officer in Hertsmere, compared to eight in both East and North Hertfordshire; and added that the council's plan was more necessary in the light of the anticipated police shortage when 186 seconded officers, in Hertsmere and Broxbourne, return to the Met.

The constabulary, which currently has 36 vacancies for constables, has warned that the recent pay hike for Met officers will make recruitment even harder.

Hertsmere's representative on the police authority, David Beatty, believes these problems mean the council's plan could only be done by existing officers working overtime.

Reacting to the crime figures, Hertfordshire's Chief Constable Paul Acres, said the county's crime rate, the number of offences committed compared to population, was the third lowest in England and Wales, and only Surrey and Dyfed Powers were safer. But he added the force aimed to bring down crime and improve community safety with greater police presence.