Okehampton Town Council has agreed to write to the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) asking for more to be done to resolve vandalism problems in the town.

Following concerns raised by councillors that the local police were not doing enough to combat the ongoing vandalism in the area, the council decided that it would take the next step and highlight the issue to PCC Alison Hernandez and ask for greater measures to be taken.

Councillors also voiced fears that Okehampton crime had been sidelined by Devon and Cornwall Police and become more Tavistock focused.

Cllr Paul Jessop said: ‘I think we should definitely write to her because the police response has been woeful. Okehampton has been forgotten and all the good work that our previous sergeant used to do in the town has stopped since he left.

Councillors also admitted they were growing concerned that the culprits were not seeing any repercussions as police were reluctant to charge children with an anti-social behaviour offence.

However, PC Matt Hawke, neighbourhood beat manager for Okehampton Police, explained: ‘We do try and deal with juveniles slightly differently due to their age. We obviously try and keep children out of the criminal justice system as best we can and try not to criminalise them. We look to work with children alongside our youth offending teams and youth intervention teams and other organisations like social services etc. We often offer community resolution whereby an apology/financial reparation/voluntary work can be undertaken to put right what they’ve done. I understand that sometimes this can be seen as “getting away with it” but often this is more impactive than simply giving the child a youth caution.

‘From the councils point of view, I understand their frustrations when groups of kids seem to be causing vandalism and its appears to be going unpunished. Behind the scenes work is always being undertaken to try and change their behaviours and hopefully change their offending behaviour.

‘Regarding ASB where no crimes are committed we have to try and utilise other tools. We work closely with West Devon Council and we look to send out ASB letters outlining the issues they are causing and what we expect from them. This process can extend to further ASB warnings and acceptable behaviour contracts. The bottom line is we hope for support from the parents in ensuring they know what their children are up to and that they support us when we get reports about ASB involving their children.’

At the most recent council meeting on Monday (June 27), the council also resolved to write to the three Dartmoor Multi-Academy Trust schools in Okehampton about its concerns and to ask for their support in addressing the problem.

The council’s decision follows two of the most recent vandalism attacks which saw a picnic bench in Simmons Park ripped from its fixings and overturned and serious damage to the park’s book swap. The picnic bench has now been moved to a safer location and the fixings reinforced.

Okehampton Excelsior Silver Band has also been victim to anti-social behaviour when a group of young people entered the band’s offices and flooded the toilets, which has prompted the town council into considering additional security for the band’s offices.

The town council also organised the installation of several CCTV cameras around the town at the end of last year in an effort to combat the problem, and are now looking at phase two of the scheme which could see additional cameras installed.

Police say that it the scheme is still in its early stages and, as yet, cannot confidently report that the cameras have reduced the number of vandalism incidents but believe that CCTV footage will be valuable in helping them identify culprits.

However, the park keeper of Simmons Park, James McGahey, said that he had seen a decrease in the number of vandalism cases since the installation of the cameras.