VICTIMS of crime can help police by investigating their own crime, says a North-East police chief.

Durham Chief Constable Mike Barton said he had no problem with members of the public helping police to make inquiries.

Mr Barton spoke out after Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) identified an "emerging trend" of hard-pressed police forces encouraging victims of high-volume crimes to carry out their own investigations.

But Mr Barton said that while it was not right for police to pass the book for solving crime to the public, police and residents should work together to catch offenders.

"We have to make sure that crimes are investigated thoroughly and all investigations are a partnership between the police and the public.

"I have investigated lots of murders and often they are detected because a member of the public or a member of the victim's family will come forward with some information that we don't know."

Mr Barton said nobody was going to force members of the public to investigate thefts and other low-level crimes.

However, he added: "If someone has something valuable stolen I think it's a good idea for them to make their own inquiries.

"If I had something valuable stolen I would have a look on the internet to see if it had been put up for sale - it's fine as long as it didn't get in the way of the police investigation."

According to the HMIC, high-volume offences such as criminal damage or vehicle crime were "on the verge of being decriminalised" by police forces which had given up investigating them.

The report said this "mindset" had led to a concerning trend of asking victims to turn DIY detectives and carry out investigations themselves.

In some forces this included asking victims to check if there was CCTV or fingerprint evidence available, as well as requesting victims interview their neighbours and check second-hand sales websites to see if their property was being sold.

Inspector of Constabulary Roger Baker, who led the inspection, said: "It's not the fault of the individual staff, it's a mindset thing that's crept in to policing to say 'we've almost given up'."