INFORMATION from the public is vital in helping in the fight against drugs, says a police sergeant new to the town. Sgt Mark Hoar recently joined the team at Okehampton Police Station and visited Okehampton and District Chamber of Trade to give members a short talk on policing in the town. Sgt Hoar said there was not a major drug problem in Okehampton, but he acknowledged there were a handful of individuals who were selling drugs. He said: 'We need really good, solid information before we can execute a drugs warrant, and that information has to come from the community. 'If your neighbour is selling drugs, tell us about it and we can do something about it.' Sgt Hoar also explained why he believed fixed penalty notices were a better way of dealing with disorderly behaviour than ASBOs, at least in a rural area like Okehampton. He said: 'Fixed penalty notices for disorder offences are a fantastic tool. If somebody is drunk and swearing at a police officer on a Friday or Saturday night, we don't give them the notice there and then. We go and see them the next day and we give them the penalty notice, which means an £80 fine. 'We don't use a lot of ASBOs. There are people in West Devon with ASBOs but in a rural area like this it is not the best way of dealing with low level offenders.' Sgt Hoar was born and brought up in Tavistock, his father had been a policeman, and was until recently an undertaker working in Okehampton. Sgt Hoar has around 20 years' experience in the force. He spent seven years policing the deprived London borough of Hackney and has been neighbourhood police officer for Hatherleigh and equality officer for West Devon and South Hams. Members of the town's business community were keen to hear Sgt Hoar endorse the prospect of a CCTV system for the town centre. He said that from a policing point of view, such a system would 'immensely help us'. He also talked about the role of PCSO (Police Community Support Officers). He said many traders would hopefully already have spoken to the Okehampton town centre PCSO Joe Raeburn while the Hatherleigh and North Tawton areas were covered by PCSO Denton Williams. Sgt Hoar said Okehampton would hopefully be getting two new PCSOs in January, with the possibility of more after that, although the exact number was under review. Another important area of community policing, Sgt Hoar touched on was the youth work carried out with students at Okehampton College — he was pleased to report a very positive attitude in terms of welcoming police into the school.
