Sidmouth burglaries drop as anti-burglary campaign underway

WHILE the number of burglaries in Sidmouth has dropped, police are undertaking an East Devon-wide anti-burglary campaign.

Honiton CID is carrying out the operation across the district and two of Sidmouth's police are helping.

One particular area of concern is Sidford, said Sergeant Andy Turner, of Sidmouth Police.

"We ask people to continue to report suspicious activities in that area in the early evening and daytime," he said.

"Police are carrying out operations in the locality and we need the public's help."

He said police had had a much larger response than normal after seeing previous requests in the Sidmouth Herald for assistance.

"We would like them to continue. Don't hesitate to call 999 if something is out of place. I would rather be called 100 times then not called if the offender is there.

"I am certainly seeing less people hesitating now, they are much quicker to ring us following suspicious activity, even if it turns out to be innocent."

Sgt Turner said it was less of a drain on police resources to spend hours checking out a call at the time than days trying to investigate an incident after it had happened.

"Then we can put our time towards other investigations," he said.