THE LOSS of another constable at Callington Police Station has prompted the town council to write letters of concern to the Police Federation and the Police Authority about the lack of staffing. Neighbourhood beat manager Jim Hunter is moving to be a patrol officer in a couple of weeks and as yet there is no replacement, leaving the station without any neighbourhood constables. Only two permanent members of the neighbourhood beat team will remain — Sergeant Brett Phillips and police community support officer (PCSO) Mark Stribley. The vacancy left by PCSO Nicole Garcia last month is being temporary filled by two support officers from Saltash as and when they can. Cllr Jeremy Gist said the low staffing levels were now having a detrimental effect on the officers themselves. 'If a single officer is attending an incident his back- up is a long way away,' said Mr Gist. 'As a town council we have, for a long time, been expressing our concerns about the lack of staffing at Callington and this is a concern which is shared by our sergeant and other officers. 'Staffing has deteriorated further over the last few weeks, so much so that the sergeant has instigated a meeting with his superiors to try and get the staffing back up to the level it was a year ago at least.' Mr Gist said recently there was no early shift or late shift for a whole week in Callington. He said: 'We do not feel this is good enough. There is no deterrant factor if we do not see officers on the streets.' He said every time there was a new Government initiative to form a new squad of officers for a specialist role, for example a terrorist squad or domestic violence unit, officers were taken off the streets. The council, which has written to the Chief Constable of the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary several times on this issue, agreed to write letters of concern to the Police Federation and the Police Authority. Sergeant Brett Phillips said the post of neighbourhood beat sergeant had been advertised and he was keen to see a replacement as soon as possible. 'If we do not have enough officers based at Callington we do work to try and resolve it by bringing in officers from Torpoint, Saltash or Liskeard to cover,' he said. 'I would like more staff here but I can only work with what I have got.' He said a replacement PCSO for Nicole Garcia would be appointed later in the year.