A senior West police officer has slammed the lack of support for victims of crime in Britain, vowing to clean up his streets.

Chief Superintendent Gary Davies said victims were too often left in the cold without the advice and support they needed. He promises closing loopholes in a system that too often fails the vulnerable will be a top priority.

The new District Commander for Bath has already underlined his zero-tolerance approach to street drinking and anti-social behaviour.

His latest push to clean up the city's streets has seen habitual offenders banned from its centre, crime statistics tumble and detection rates hit a new high of 35 per cent this month.

But the focus for Chief Supt Davies and his team will now be setting up a dedicated local service for victims and establishing a "new standard for behaviour" on Bath's streets.

He said: "Frankly I don't think we are doing enough for victims of crime in this country at the moment and it has to change.

"I'm going to make it a priority within the Bath division to alter that trend so we are meeting the needs of those victims.

"I don't think we do as good a job on that as we could and we are not referring enough people who need it to Victim Support and other agencies.

"We have put a local phoneline in place so all victims in BANES can get information, either about what's happening with the case, or for the most vulnerable people, some extra support or advice.

"There is also a new email address people can access and we will have somebody in place to act as an advocate for victims and provide a link to the investigating officers."

The contact details are provided to victims when they report the crimes.

A common complaint has been that after the initial 999 call, keeping in touch with officers working on a case is tricky, what with changing shifts, rest days and the mountains of paper work they juggle.

But Chief Supt Davies wants every victim to know what is happening right up to conviction and to be able to liaise through somebody assigned specifically to that role.

He said: "We're already getting really good feedback on this and it also links in with something the force is doing nationally with the 'Policing Pledge'."

The Policing Pledge is a set of principles all 43 police forces are expected to adhere to.

It contains a list of minimum standards required when answering calls to the police, giving information on police services and when the public can meet their neighbourhood teams.

It also makes it clear when people can receive updates on specific crimes and what has happened to those brought to justice.

Chief Supt Davies added: "My commitment to stamping out anti-social behaviour remains and now we need to move towards some long-term solutions on these issues.

"We want to set new standards of behaviour on the streets of Bath, so people get to know what is and isn't acceptable – if we have to give out fixed penalties or put people in the cells then we will.

"It's important to me that families feel safe in this city and people can enjoy their time here."

The move was welcomed by the national Victim Support agency, and a spokeswoman said: "It's good that more concern is being shown for victims of crime and we are interested to know more about this initiative.

"There are lots of initiatives across the criminal justice system to help victims and it's important we all work together on this."

In the past the police force has been blasted for failing victims of crime.

In 2007 Wiltshire Police were ordered to pay damages to the family of pregnant murder victim Hayley Richards from Trowbridge. She was killed by her boyfriend Hugo Quintas in 2005, just days after reporting to police that he had assaulted her.

The IPCC upheld two complaints by her family against Wiltshire Police.