OKEHAMPTON police have found no evidence of groups of youths playing loud music or driving their cars carelessly in Simmons Park car park despite complaints from nearby residents.
In a letter to Okehampton Town Council Sergeant Brendan Brookshaw, who is responsible for crime reduction, said the police attendance had been stepped up in this area but there had been no arrests and no-one had been reported for traffic offences.
The officer was contacted following concerns from the town council about noise complaints. Local residents said they were being disturbed by large groups of youths driving carelessly and playing their car stereos very loudly.
It was suggested that gates could be installed but this was decided against by the town council because of responsibility of locking the gates every night and making the park inaccessible to genuine users.
Sgt Brookshaw said as a result of the upgrade in police interest in this area there had been several reports of nuisance incidents at the nearby bowling club and in the grounds of the school but none of these could be attributed to an individual or group associated with regular gathering in the park.
He said the wet and cold weather had probably prevented the park being used in the evening and the matter would be raised again in the summer months. Officers would continue to include the area as part of their general patrols.
In the meantime efforts are being made to deter vandalism in the park by looking into ways of making things vandal-proof such as glass.
PC Chris Vercoe said providing an area specifically for youngsters to go was also being explored.
'We often get complaints about youths in the park but if they cannot go there where can they go?' he said.
'If they had a youth shelter they could personalise that without doing it to the toilets or the bowling club.'