Police tackle spike in anti-social behaviour

There has been a spike in anti-social behaviour (ASB) in Saltash since February, police have said.

Devon and Cornwall Police said it had enrolled a police community support officer for the area in April and had issued 13 ASB warnings since then.

Insp Ned Bowie said the force wanted to be "robust" in dealing with ASB and wanted to educate perpetrators to "stop this for the future".

Some business owners in Saltash said they had noticed an increased police presence in the town while others remained frustrated at the level of ASB they encountered.

Olivia Richards said she had "not really noticed any anti-social behaviour" since opening a coffee shop in Saltash eight months ago.

"When there has been the odd incident, the police are there quite quickly," she said.

Natasha O'Grady, assistant manager at The Factory Shop in Fore Street, agreed and said: "I've noticed over the last few weeks - when the guys put in the calls to the police - they are coming out more and doing a drive-by.

"Once they have been informed that something is going on they are making their presence known."

Landladies of The Brunel Inn on the same street, Sam Wright and Donna Shepherd, said they had had a different experience.

Ms Wright said: "We don't see police on the beat.

"In fact in our first week we actually had our windows smashed and they said they would come and see us and that was three days later.

"There's a group of lads that walk around causing problems, smashing windows and stealing cars."

Ms Shepherd added: "I think the police are onto them but they don't do enough to stop it."

PC Pip Davey is the neighbourhood beat manager in Saltash.

She said the three priorities for the town's police were ASB, shoplifting and drugs.

"We are starting to see results now [but] we've still got work to do as there is still anti-social behaviour," she said.

"We are identifying those perpetrators. We are going to speak to them, we're looking at what may be the causes of that behaviour.

"We are issuing anti-social behaviour warnings and escalating that if the behaviour doesn't change."

Insp Bowie said during the past fortnight officers had spent 214 hours on patrol in the area, engaged with more than 1,000 members of the public and they had been into 200 premises.

He urged members of the public to report any incidents of harassment, alarm or distress they encountered.

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