WEST Devon's new police District Commander has said despite huge pressures on the service, relationships between officers and those directly involved in the foot and mouth outbreak has been 'excellent'.
Extra policemen and woman are being drafted in to cope with the crisis as officers are called to guard the gates of an increasing number of infected farms.
Chief Inspector Barry Frost told last Saturday's crisis meeting in Tavistock: 'Every day within West Devon I have 37 constables to police the borough 24 hours a day.
'I've actually got on loan 120 extra a day, working about 14 hours each.
'The chief constable assures me that if we need 400, we shall get them.'
Chief Inspector Frost said most of the police working in the Hatherleigh foot and mouth hotspot were not local and generally had little farming experience.
'The over-riding message is a huge amount of respect — some of them have been very touched indeed by the things they have seen.
Some of them have spent the night leaning on different sides of the gate talking with the farmers,' he said.
Chief Inspector Frost said his officers have been called to farms on several occasions recently to remove fire-arms, but the relationship between farmers and the police has remained 'excellent'.