Police tackling anti-social behaviour in Bideford

Police say they are tackling behaviour in Bideford

Police have insisted tackling anti-social behaviour is a priority after a councillor told a meeting he had stopped visiting a Devon town at night.

Torridge District councillor Philip Pennington said he refused to visit Bideford when it was dark due to the number of fights.

Ch Insp Graham Thomas, from Devon and Cornwall Police, said officers "know the misery" of such behaviour.

He said the force was "maximising efforts" to prevent the crime.

Councillor Pennington, who is an independent covering Monkleigh and Putford, said: "The night-time economy needs to be addressed because I am not coming here with the amount of ASB (anti-social behaviour) that goes on."

Sgt Glyn Clark said it was "disappointing" to see the comments made at the meeting, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

"We are intelligence led as an organisation and predominantly will steer towards dealing with crime in areas that have a larger number of crimes reported," he said.

"That is not to say that the areas with less crime will be ignored, simply the police resources we have will be directed to patrol all areas to the best of our abilities and availability."

'Supervise and scrutinise'

He said the areas of concern were discussed every two weeks and crime statistics were scrutinised and priorities set.

"I supervise and scrutinise the monthly patrol plans to ensure that we can maximise our efforts in both preventing and detecting crime," he said.

"I am proud of my neighbourhood policing team who are all passionate about the local community, this is why we would always encourage the public to report matters to the police, which directly influences our patrol plans, which helps us direct resources accurately in the community."

Ch Insp Thomas said police had seen a 5.2% reduction in the last 12 months in anti-social behaviour in Bideford.

Police said they worked with partners to intervene to divert people away from ASB and crime and picked up on local concerns through meetings with councillors and the community safety partnership.