POLICE cover at Callington is about to get back to full complement thanks to chief constable Stephen Otter's pledge to put 200 extra officers back on the streets.
For eight months Callington was struggling with just one sergeant and one Police Community Support Officer on its neighbourhood policing team covering the town plus the parishes of Calstock, Gunnislake and Stoke Climsland.
But within the next month it will increase to five neighbourhood officers and six on patrol, the largest policing team the area has seen in more than two years.
Sgt Brett Phillips said: 'It's been a very frustrating time but now we can start being more proactive and show a more visible presence around the town and at local events.
'At last a pledge has been made by the new chief constable for additional officers and that is starting to happen.'
Neighbourhood beat manager (NBM) for Callington Julian Collison joined the team a few weeks ago and a second NBM, Sarah Westcott, will be arriving from Saltash in the next few weeks to be in charge of the Calstock and Gunnislake areas.
Both officers have come from positions which have been civilianised. One of the aims of chief constable Stephen Otter, who took over the post last year, was to identify roles which could be filled by civilian staff, therefore releasing officers to the front line.
Jo Addems also recently joined Callington station as the PCSO in charge of Gunnislake and Calstock.
An additional five officers at Saltash Police Station and five at Liskeard would have a big impact on Callington in terms of providing extra cover when it was needed, added Sgt Phillips.
'At Callington we have been understaffed for some time. PCSO Mark Stribley was the only officer I had for eight months so I think the public are going to see quite a difference.'
Mr Otter recently visited Callington Police Station and met members of the town council. Both parties found the experience very positive.
Sgt Phillips said it was the first time in his 17-year career with the police that he had met a chief constable and from spending an hour with him he could see that 'he really meant business'.
Cllr Jeremy Gist, a former special constable, said he was impressed by Mr Otter: 'I found him very approachable, he was a policeman rather than a politician and he was brutally honest.
'He was the first one to admit we have had policing problems in Callington and to say this is what we are going to do about it.'
The chief constable has also introduced new technology so the control room can pinpoint the exact location of officers at any moment in time, deploying them to incidents regardless of rank or role.
Callington portreeve Rick Lumley said: 'We have had great co-operation from the local police for a number of years so now we hope it will be from the top down as well as the bottom up.'