Law enforcement remains a top priority says Ottery’s inspector

Inspector Antonia Weeks and Sergeant Richard Stonecliffe spoke at the town council last week about streamlined processes allowing them to continue providing the same service with fewer officers.

She told the meeting: “We are down on numbers to where we were, that’s not to say the numbers we have currently got are insufficient to meet demand, because we have looked at different and smarter ways of working. We have looked at ways we can make ourselves more accessible to the public without it depending on a person.”

She told councillors that work was being carried out into where PCSOs are best deployed.

She said: “If we do not do law enforcement, no-one else does, the other lovely things like visiting schools and teaching kids to ride bikes is wonderful if you have the time, money and the people to do it and there are other people who can do that from the third sector or partner agency. Even looking at PCSOs we need to prioritise things we do that nobody else does.”