WEST Devon Police sector has a new leader in the shape of Insp Mike Warriner - and he’s come bearing gifts with the promise of ten new officers in post by next summer.

As well as nine new officers answering 999 calls, there will be an additional neighbourhood police officer dealing with day-to-day policing.

Mike hails from Barnstaple and his most recent posting has been very much at the sharp end of policing as an inspector overseeing ’critical incidents’ - ’those with multiple casualties’ - across much of Devon.

Now Mike has a new and different challenge altogether, that of leading a team of neighbourhood police officers in Tavistock and Okehampton and overseeing five teams of ’response officers’ who go out to incidents in West Devon.

Insp Mike took over the posting on the retirement of Insp Mark Sloman in the summer and, after policing the G7 Summit at Carbis Bay in June, he is now back getting to grips with the day job. It will start by getting the team up to full strength, filling several vacancies and increasing the number of neighbourhood police officers to six overall in Tavistock and Okehampton (there are also four PCSOs), filling one vacancy and also taking on an additional police officer. There will be nine officers coming to join the West Devon ranks in five response teams over the space of the next six to nine months, thanks to what is being termed ’levelling up’ by the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner. These officers - who are the ones who go out to the 999 calls - will be coming into post as they complete their training.

’I’ve five reponse teams here in West Devon, each led by a sergeant, and what I want to do is make sure they are fully staffed,’ said Insp Warriner.

While response staff deal with the 999 calls, it is the PCs, called neighbourhood beat managers, overseen by a sergeant, who deal with issues that are crucial for West Devon, among them anti-social behaviour which has seen a recent Public Spaces Protection Order approved last week for the Meadows in Tavistock where vandalism, alcohol-fuelled aggression, initimidation and harassment made people’s lives a misery over the summer. Other long-term issues include domestic violence, a Devon and Cornwall Police force-wide priority and as much an issue in West Devon, stresses Insp Warriner, as elsewhere in the region. ’Violence towards women and girls is a huge thing we need to tackle,’ he said. ’We unfortunately have a hell of a lot of domestic abuse within our communities and that is something that is often hidden but it is there.’

The other issue for his officers is takling ’the loss of public confidence’ over anti-social behaviour. ’There have been issues in the Tavistock area around anti-social behaviour but that has dropped off and now we have the Public Spaces Protection Order. Obviously we want to tackle these issues,’ he said. ’Rural speeding is another one of that things that every town and village suffers. I would like to work on that.’ In his new role, Insp Mike said he would be aiming for ’operational excellence’ in supporting the public and solving cases. ’We will have nine new officers over the next six to nine months. Some of them are in training, some are ready to come on post now. They will all be in post by next summer. He added: ’When you ring the police, it is a response officer that comes to deal with it.’

Neighbourhood police officers - termed neighbourhood beat managers - are the ones who deal with long- term issues. ’They work with schools, children and vulnerable adults. They look at the longer term demand issues, if they are going to an address time and time again. They do a lot of work with the NHS and with housing, so they are constantly trying to tackle problems.

Mike, who is 41 and has a family, has lived in the Barnstaple area for decades - his soft Westcountry accent belies the fact that Mike is actually Canadian, having moved to Devon from Canada at the age of ten. In his police career, he has seen himself posted all over Devon. He has though, never been posted to West Devon before. ’It is a new challenge, new people and a great opportunity,’ he said.