DISPUTES between neighbours are taking up 75% of the neighbourhood police officers’ time in West Devon, the inspector in charge of the area has revealed.

Insp Mark Sloman is calling on neighbours to try to solve problems themselves or turn to mediation services rather than picking up the phone to the police.

‘The majority of calls we get are over boundary disputes, rights of way and access rights,’ he said. ‘Planning permission gets people going as well. These sorts of disputes ruin people’s lives, and we do feel sorry for them.

‘When things progress, people start to take things very personally. They’ll feel that their neighbour is smirking at them in a funny way, and they’ll call the police. Or they‘ll say “they walked past my house four times today”. On its own it seems silly, but people are genuinely upset.

‘Long-term friendships are broken over these things. They don’t know where else to go and they come to the police, but we haven’t got all the answers.’

The majority of the disputes were long-running ones between neighbours in larger houses in isolated spots rather than in the towns and villages on the patch, he said.

‘Our neighbourhood police team consists of one sergeant, four PCs and PCSOs,’ said Insp Sloman. ‘I would say that around 75% of their work is around neighbourhood disputes, and they shouldn’t be. I would like to turn that around so that 25% of our work is around neighbourhood disputes.’

He said the police could only intervene when a crime had taken place, criminal damage for instance, or harassment. ‘We need evidence to prosecute, though,’ he said. ‘Unless we have got evidence corroborated by independent witnesses, which is rare, it is very rare that we can actually prosecute.’

He said that police officers tried to mediate when they were called out, but this could make matters worse. ‘We do try to mediate but these disputes are often so ingrained. A lot of the time, people are better off going to the Land Agency, or the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. They can also get a solicitor’s advice.’

The Land Agency or RICS could help resolve boundary disputes, he said.

‘They need to get it off their chests, and the first agency they think of is the police,’ he said. ‘We understand if people feel that they are being harassed or intimidated and we will look into these things, but people also have to take a bit of personal responsibility for their lives, rather than just coming to the police expecting them to have the answers.

He stressed that in cases where people feared that they were being harassed, they should still contact the police.

In other cases, he is suggesting contacting Devon Mediation, a not-for-profit organisation which works with people in all kinds of disputes across the county.

‘We are independent and we try to be fair,’ said Insp Sloman. ‘But we go in with our Size 12s, and we don’t know the history, and sometimes it can make it worse.’