CAMELFORD has sadly seen an increase in reported crime over the past year, a meeting heard recently.

PCSO Jowan Annear attended the annual parish meeting of Camelford Town Council on Thursday, March 7 to update the community on local crime levels and what is being done to tackle ongoing issues in the area.

PCSO Annear handed out a sheet to the public, detailing recorded crimes in the Camelford area, compared to that of Launceston, east Cornwall and force-wide. Overall, Camelford town has had a 42.9% increase in recorded crime, which is considerably more that Launceston who has had a 12.7% difference, east Cornwall with a 6.4% difference and force-wide with a 4.6% difference.

He began: “The bad news is that there has been a 42% increase in reported crime, so Camelford has suffered quite badly in terms of crime reported.

“Criminal damage has also seen quite a big jump, and the number of logs we received has had a 27% increase — so the amount of calls we’re getting has gone up a lot as well. We have been dealing with a lot of ongoing issues, which you may be aware of. I think you might all agree that this is mainly due to a lack of police presence in Camelford. There has not been a dedicated police officer since September 2017.”

PCSO Annear explained that the Inspector for the area, Insp Lynden Hughes, has ‘seen Camelford has suffered quite a lot’ and has since been working to provide one officer to be based in Camelford for their shifts. “They will still cover from here to Callington,” PCSO Annear said. “But they will be the first to respond to any incidents here. So we will have a dedicated MDM officer starting hopefully on April 1.”

Town councillor, Lauren Rathbone, said: “What are police doing about the antisocial behaviour that has been happening in recent events?”

“There are three individuals that we know have done it,” PCSO Annear said. He explained that there is a warning system that works in levels — firstly, the individual/s receive a warning, then receive a second warning and ‘it escalates through the process’ from there. “These individuals are currently on their second warning. These are repeat offenders.”

The meeting heard that police prioritise calls depending on the seriousness of the issue.

Member of the public, Jane Sleeman, asked: “We experience a lot of night speeding through town. Will this new regime mean more police at night?”

PCSO Annear said it is hoped the current regime will change for the better for the town. He said: “They’re not working night shifts, but there will be more of a police presence in Camelford, working late shifts.”

He added that Camelford has been ‘crying out for a dedicated police officer’, and that the force is constantly working towards improved services for the area.