A POLICE update was given at the recent Bude-Stratton Town Council meeting, where the area’s sector inspector, Julian Morris was in attendance.

The inspector, who has now been at the helm in the Post area for six months, brought some positive news along with him on Thursday, September 5. He informed those present that in the last six months Bude has had a six percent decrease in its crime rate, in comparison to the same period last year.

Insp Morris praised the work ethic of his officers, which he attributed the statistic to. He said: “This is a testament to staff working hard. The only rise is in public order and drug offences, as they are the only ones we record when we find, so it’s good to know the officers are out there doing their job.”

The inspector then proceeded to address the council on some of the incidents he has dealt with since assuming the role.

After the anti social behaviour issues in and around Bude, Insp Morris issued a dispersement notice to curb the problem. He explained: “We were able to highlight and target criminals and the number of calls we’ve had has reduced.” He reminded the council that this would be used again if the same issues aroused in the future. He added: “We’re not being complacent, if they happen again we will do them again.”

The inspector praised the efforts of Adam Chapman the area’s Tri-Service Safety Officer — “Our Tri-Service Officer has been key to that, working with various emergency services and engagement. We are there to rectify behaviour, trying to send people down a different path, as we have done with one targetted individual.”

Mayor of Bude, Cllr Bob Willingham praised the work the force had done regarding the individual mentioned by Insp Morris. He said: “The young lad you spoke about who was a nuisance, when I saw him recently I couldn’t believe the difference after being under the wing of the tri-service officers.He has changed a whole life so well done.”

One of the active issues within the area is drug use and its distribution. Insp Morris wants the public to be aware of the problem and encouraged anyone with information to get in touch. He said: “Drugs are still a problem, county lines is everywhere.

“It’s why we are targetting those who need drugs, we need community intelligence, you don’t have to give your name as you can always email in as its anonymous — I urge the public to assist us.”

He was also keen to emphasise how it can take time to piece together information and that shouldn’t deter people from reporting things. He continued: “We put things on our Bude Police Facebook page and one of the comments I saw was that ‘we report stuff and nothing ever happens’, with these sorts of things we do a lot in the background that people might not overtly see, we need the little snippets once we get intelligence, we can get warrants and we will get after them.”

Insp Morris was also hopeful that the prime minister’s recent pledge of an additional 20,000 police officers will have an impact on the Post area’s own staffing. He explained: “As a force we will get our cut, it won’t be massive numbers. It will be 450/500 officers for this force, wont be huge numbers here but it’s positive that they will come in four years.”

He was assured that the police and crime commissioner for Devon and Cornwall would see this through, adding: “I am certain Alison Hernandez will see that we get a right share for Devon and Cornwall.”

There will also be an enhancement in technology for the area’s police officers. All of the officers are soon to be equipped with video cameras, trained to use tasers and even student officers will be able to use tasers.

Police will soon have finger print technology so that road side stops will be able to easily identify who people are.

Cllr Willingham also enquired about the potential reopening of Bude’s police station. He said: “We had Alison (Hernandez) here all day recently, and went to the police station, one of the things the residents would like to see is it to reopen and she actually said there was a chance to do that. If we would be able to man the offices with volunteers.”

Insp Morris said he would take a look into this and speak with PCC Hernandez about the potential reopening to see if there was any possibility. He also promoted the various things volunteers can contribute towards helping the police service. He explained: “Volunteers doing various things, vehicle checks, social media, CCTV.

“I will try and do another push and speak to Alison about the possibility of doing that. We have streamlined our vetting system to recruit volunteers and are pushing that message, if people have time please come and volunteer.

“I will speak to her and what her plans are, it shouldn’t be an issue now the two year redundancy notice has ended. We can have a look as it would be a positive step to have a Bude station, I’ll get back to you.”