CALSTOCK parish councillors voiced their concern about the lack of police on the streets and rural policing getting a raw deal, when Devon and Cornwall's police commissioner Tony Hogg attended their meeting last week.

Councillors, who invited Mr Hogg along to talk about his role which has replaced the former police authorities, explained that Calstock was the third largest parish in Cornwall geographically — yet residents there felt forgotten by Truro, which was where the powerhouse of Cornwall Council was situated.

They said they were concerned about the probable loss of Callington Police Station and the small number of police officers appointed to cover an area which included Callington, Stoke Climsland, Calstock and Gunnislake.

But Mr Hogg spoke of the huge budgetary challenges facing the police and the need for communities to take ownership of their parishes and support the police as street pastors and special constables.

Cllr Ian Beech, a former policeman, said the primary objective of the police was the prevention of crime but that meant more feet on the ground.

'The chief constable at one point said the basis of policing is community policing,' he said. 'I feel the problem is there are too many senior officers sitting in offices and taking large salaries.

'We need more police on the streets.

'We have two police constables and two police community support officers to cover this area which is one of the largest in Cornwall. The police station is likely to close and they are talking about having a desk in the town hall. That is not proper policing and neither is having a sergeant based at Torpoint and covering Callington which is a 45-minute journey away.'

Parish clerk Sue Lemon said she was concerned for the community, having made a 999 call on a Friday night and getting a text message back saying the police were too busy to deal with it.

Mr Hogg said over the past eight months he had attended 400 events and met 10,000 members of the public and was now running surgeries with MPs to find out the concerns of local people. He said he would be going around the two counties with the chief constable talking publically about policing issues.

He said his job was to up the quality of policing while reducing the number of police officers.

'We have six hundred 999 calls a day and two thousand 101 calls, all of that is being done with 1,000 less staff and £36-million less than two years ago,' he said.

'Over the next two years we have to save a further £24-million and we are on target to deliver that. The challenges for police are pretty substantial at the moment.'

He said crime was falling but there were stubborn areas — sexual and domestic violence, alcohol and the night-time economy and anti social behaviour were the top three issues in Devon and Cornwall.

Mr Hogg pledged to hold the number of police officers above 3,000 despite plans to drop the number to 2,810. He said 200 special constables are been recruited for rural and maritime areas.

'Please take ownership of your parishes,' he said to the councillors and urged the public to report crime especially incidents of domestic violence.

'Do not just leave it to the police as individuals. The police family extends to street pastors and special constables and we want communities to work with the police and support them because that is the way to get the best out of them.'

He also asked people to praise the police as many felt isolated and under attack at the moment.

He said he absolutely understood that prevention was the way to go and agreed that there may be too many ranks in the police.

'Communication is lousy from the top to the bottom and the many ranks are certainly not helping with that,' he said.

But he added that on the whole 999 calls were being dealt with effectively, it was the 101 calls response that needed to improve.

Mr Hogg said restorative justice, more PCSOs, a reduction in crime and good, sound financial planning were positive things that were happening in policing at the moment.