'ENOUGH is enough' — that was the clear message this week from villagers in Princetown who are sick and tired of the criminal antics of a few teenage vandals. Fed up with continuing cases of abusive language, drunken behaviour, rowdiness in the early hours — and in the more extreme cases arson and assault — residents gathered at the High Moorland Centre on Monday to voice their grievances at a meeting of Dartmoor Forest Parish Council. Such was the demand for action and the numbers determined to air their views on the anti-social behaviour blighting the community that council chairman David Fisher decided to adjourn the meeting to the nearby United Church to accommodate the numbers, who were spilling out the corridors at the centre. The police showed their intention to work with the village to solve the problem by having four officers present: Sgt Bob Hughes, PC Dave Pickles, PCSO Mark Canvin and PCSO Rob Walsh. A resident opened by saying the situation had become a 'complete disaster' in the past nine months. He said: 'You can see from the village turnout the depth of feeling and particularly against the lack of policing. 'I am no way saying anything against the two policemen who come here (PC Dave Pickles, PCSO Mark Canvin), who are doing the best they can, but they are under-powered and they cannot cover the village properly. Sgt Hughes, who has been appointed as the beat Sgt for Princetown, replied: 'Your concerns are shared by every small village in Devon and Cornwall. David and Mark are doing good work in the village. What we need is the will of people to collect evidence and for you not to give up on calling us so we can respond to situations. 'When you are subject to abuse or see a crime being committed, please, please call us. We need the evidence from yourselves, who are part of this community. We can only solve this together and we are here to try and help you.' He said the police hadto cover an area from the Dartmoor Diner at Roborough to Roadford Lake and it might be two minutes or 35 before they could get there. He assured villagers that: 'Our police officers should not be sitting in Tavistock police station waiting for a call, they should be patrolling.' One irate resident asked the police: 'If we don't sort this situation out it is just going to get worse and worse. What are you going to do about it?' Sgt Hughes said: 'There is a difference between knowing something and proving it. We cannot give a 24-hour police presence in Princetown, but if you keep calling in we will deal with it.' Cllr Helen Ward told the meeting, to applause: 'Nobody has mentioned the parents of these unruly children. They have to take responsibility. I just want to say though, that not all children here are all bad.' Cllr Alan Hoskin, county councillor for the Yelverton ward and a school governor at Princetown, said: 'Since PC Pickles and PCSO Canvin have been here I have noticed a change for the better. 'We have to remember that 95 per cent of the children are great, however, there is a small element and we need to collect the evidence against them by keeping calling the police.' One woman said she would not let her daughter out in the village in the evening in fear of her safety and suggested a curfew of 10pm should be imposed for youths, while another blamed the parents for not chastising their children. Other villagers told tales of footballs kicked against walls and windows; growing problems caused by drugs and alcohol and someone being threatened with a bottle when he complained to unruly youngsters. One woman summed it up when she said: 'What makes this village very special is that we are very tolerant and we have an understanding of people's differences but this is unacceptable behaviour. What we need to say to these kids is that as a community we will not tolerate it.' After the meeting Cllr Fisher told the Times: 'We will be holding a meeting with John Taynton, the chairman of Horrabridge Parish Council, later this week to see if there is anything we can do mutually with them and the police.' The councils will be looking at the possibilities of Anti Social Behaviour Orders as well as dispersal orders. 'I'm hoping that after strength of feeling that was shown at the parish council meeting that something can be done.' 'We had promises from the previous Devon and Cornwall chief constable when they were putting up the rates to fight this sort of thing and yet still nothing positive has happened.'
