ON two occasions during the last month I have had to attend meetings that have lasted until late into the evening.
Whilst attending these meetings I left my car in the Guildhall car park and on both occasions I found minor damage to the vehicle on my return. I can only presume that the presence of five marked police vehicles parked in front of the nearby police station acted as a deterrent to any more serious damage.
I understand from recent reports that Devon and Cornwall Police are currently seeking to relocate the police station, leaving a ?front desk? facility at Tavistock (premises to be found) plus an accompanying ?neighbourhood manager? in the form of a beat Police Constable.
From reports in the local newspaper we do appear to suffer from our share of drink-related crimes, such as spontaneous bouts of violence, vandalism, graffiti and acts of criminal damage. This drunken loutish behaviour is usually reported by town centre residents on Friday and Saturday nights.
I for one would be extremely sorry to see the current visible police presence leave and seek reassurance from our constabulary that adequate police cover will remain in place to deal promptly with such incidents as mentioned above.
We are a community of about 11,000 persons in Tavistock and our council tax reflects quite a large payment to the police to ensure protection of the community. It would be galling to find that our payments of tax are for the benefit of residents elsewhere.
I do realise that there have been recent liaison meetings between the police and community councillors and would welcome follow up discussions to ensure that the residents of Tavistock are kept abreast of current developments as and when they occur.
Tavistock Town Cllr Mrs J Ramsey