WEST Devon is one of the safest places to live in the country, so you would be forgiven for thinking that the local police might be left twiddling their thumbs most of the time — but one detective constable explains to reporter Lindsay Turpin that this is not the case.

In the two stations based in Tavistock and Okehampton there are the response teams — uniformed officers — the neighbourhood beat teams, and CID (Criminal Investigation Department).

And DC Wayne Thielmann says that despite popular belief that ‘all the police do all day is drive around picking up motorists, the police are extremely busy, dealing with incidents, crimes and helping the people of West Devon — as well as a large percentage of their time being spent dealing with incidents at Dartmoor Prison.

‘We are out there dealing with crime and dealing with offences. CID has to deal with serious crimes — sexual offences, GBH (grievous bodily harm) and high risk domestic violence incidents,’ said DC Thielmann.

‘Myself and DC Mike Lugger not only have everyday crimes to deal with but in the last 12 months have investigated over 60 crimes which have come from HMP Dartmoor. That accounts for about 30 per cent of our workload. Current investigations being carried out which have originated from the prison include assaults, sexual offences, possession of prohibited articles, which include mobile phones, new psychoactive substances (NPS or legal highs, controlled drugs and weapons), breach of restraining orders and sudden deaths.

‘The prison staff have their own adjudications for minor incidents that the police aren‘t involved with but then there are the more serious incidents that get called into the police.’

Like any prison across the country, Dartmoor, which is a Category C Prison, has had major issues with mobile phones over recent years, which are illegal to have within its walls, but are smuggled in or thrown over the prison walls for inmates. CID has worked hard with prison staff to prosecute anyone caught with a mobile phone. There were multiple prosecutions that went through the CPS (Criminal Prosecution Service) and the offenders were given either a consecutive sentence or a concurrent sentence, which has worked well as a deterrent to stop mobile phone offences.

There have also been successful prosecutions for conspiracy to supply drugs into the prison as well as assault. In the last few months there has been the high profile prosecution of a prison officer, who was convicted for supplying prisoners with tobacco, and what is believed to be the first successful prosecution in the county for possession of NPS within prisons.

Due to the high level of incidents the local police have to deal with at Dartmoor Prison it is hoped that one day soon a police support investigator (PSI) will be employed. A PSI has been employed at Exeter Prison and has already managed to take the pressure off of its local police.

‘We will hopefully employ a PSI and then we will be able to look at the wider issues in West Devon — one big issue we need to address is the drugs flow in and out of the county which has a knock on effect in West Devon.

‘Even though West Devon is one of the safest places to live, it still does have its issues which need addressing.’