Some Dorset residents are being put off reporting thefts and burglaries to the county's police force, because they believe nothing will be done about it.

Two councillors commented on the perception at Wednesday's meeting of the Police and Crime Panel. It comes after a national report was released earlier this year, saying police across the country were failing victims of burglary and theft.

Canford Cliffs councillor May Haines said she believed some people were no longer bothering to contact the police about low-value burglaries, such as a bike from a shed, because they knew nothing would come of it, with a similar position for petty thefts.

She said that there were also often difficulties in calling the police to begin with, commenting: "Some people think there's no point in reporting because nobody's going to do anything, anyway," she said.

She later also raised concerns about a lack of action over 'boy racers' tearing up and down residential streets late at night, or in the early hours.

Dorchester councillor Les Fry cited an incident where a handbag had been stolen at a charity event in the county town. The victim had traced the likely thieves to a nearby garage where a credit card from the bag had been used – although the CCTV evidence was lost because officers took more than 30 days to get there and the images had been erased.

"People are saying 'what's the point?' if they don't get a response," said Cllr Fry.

Cllr Sherry Jespersen said a lack of data collection was putting both the police and Dorset Council on the back foot.

She said there was no recorded official evidence of non-injury accidents at Pimperne since 2015, yet to her knowledge, there had been four collisions in the past 12 months on a specific corner in the village, which had caused distress to residents.

"Non-injury accidents are not trivial to the people involved… there are collision black spots in many of our villages," she said, adding that if the accidents were not recorded no action was likely to be taken to improve road safety.

Police and Crime Commissioner David Sidwick said he accepted Cllr Jespersen's concerns and promised to look at ways to tighten up on the data at the next meeting of the Dorset Road Safety Partnership.

He told Cllr May that he doubted many burglaries were not being reported, mainly because most people would want to make an insurance claim.

He said that Dorset Police were committed to a response to all reports of burglary, whether domestic or on business premises.

The commitment came after Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services released a report in August, finding police across the country were failing victims of burglary and theft, with some suffering a 'postcode lottery' in how police treated their robbery.

After gaining national publicity in light of the report, Dorset Police issued an apology to Lyme Regis Football Club after failing to respond or even issue a crime number after a break-in at their clubhouse.

In the case of anti-social drivers, Mr Sidwick action could be, and would be taken if residents reported the incidents. In many cases, he said, it was possible for police to seize offending vehicles and his office would be happy to publicise those incidents as a deterrent to others.

The commissioner told Cllr Fry that he personally would have chased the issue of the stolen handbag up, had he been given information at the time, and would still pursue what had happened, adding that there would be times when things did not go the way they should.

Despite the comments, Mr Sidwick said he believed police engagement with the public was improving and said that, despite previous figures from earlier in the year which showed 101 calls taking more than 16 minutes to answer, that was now down to less than six minutes on average, while the figures for 999 calls being answered within 10 seconds had also improved and remained at over 90 per cent.

His comments came as residents are being asked how much they would be willing to spend on the Dorset Police precept in their council tax bill. You can take the survey here.