INSTEAD of the Gateway to Northern Dartmoor, Okehampton could soon be renamed as the window smashing capital of the west, according to traders furious over weekend damage to their premises.

Traders have started a petition to get more police officers on the beat and are taking it to their MP in a bid to lobby the Government and highlight the plight of rural areas.

'It just seems to be escalating — every Monday we have to check if any windows have been damaged from drunken vandalism on a Friday and Saturday night,' said Denise van Looy, whose business premises have been affected twice recently.

'It's like a game to these people, but their games are costing everybody in Okehampton money because insurance will go up across the board.'

She said a heavier police

presence would help: 'We are all sitting targets here when the pubs and clubs kick out. The police call it petty crime, but it is not petty when it is costing us thousands of pounds.'

Mrs van Looy said it was not just smashed windows which were annoying traders, but other acts of vandalism like throwing lighted cigarettes through letter-boxes.

'I had to nail up the letterbox because there are flats above the business and people could have died from an incident like this,' she added.

Imran Ali, who runs the Indian takeaway in Okehampton, said the profit margins in a place like Okehampton were small anyway without additional costs from 'mindless vandalism'.

'It's not like a city with a population of 50,000 people where large profits can be made, yet the vandalism we receive is on a par with a big city,' he said.

'We want an assurance of minimum security for our

businesses and that is why we will be lobbying our MP to get something done from a higher level.'

Mr Ali said the criminals needed to know that somebody was watching them: 'It is probably down to a handful of people, but at the moment they know they can get away with it.'

Manager of Endacotts Bakery Michael Finucanel, whose windows have been smashed twice, believes the courts should take a stronger line with the vandals.

'It's not so much a police problem as a court problem,' he said. 'These criminals get a rap over the knuckles and told not to do it again. They need to be hit where it hurts.'

Sergeant Stuart Gibbons, who covers Okehampton, said extra funding for special operations to crack down on public order offences ceased just before the summer, meaning the level of police cover had now dropped at a time when it was most needed.

'Our resources are limited at the moment and although officers try to remain in the town centre and deal with problems that arise after the clubs and pubs close, they also have to respond to incidents that arise across a large rural area,' he said.

'The problem is accentuated by the fact that if we make an arrest officers have to take the offenders to Barnstaple which leaves the town short on manpower.'

Applications for CCTV funding in the past have failed because crime figures are too low in Okehampton, but Sgt Gibbons said he understood the police would be making another attempt for funding from the Home Office this year.

'One of the things we are hoping to do is recruit more special constables to improve police presence at weekends,' he said.

To find out more about becoming a special constable contact Okehampton Police on 08705 777444.