Policing a 'bureaucratic nightmare' says Totnes Lib Dem

Mike Treleaven, the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for the Totnes Constituency, recently spent time with Totnes police chief, Inspector Mike Ellis, and the man in charge of the neighbourhood beat managers Sergeant Steve Hopper.

During his visit Mike saw the police station in Totnes at work and spent time 'on the beat' around Totnes with Sergeant Hopper.

' We have a very committed and hard working police force based in Totnes who cover a wide area' said Mike Treleaven.

'I had a good insight into the problems facing the police today and in particular the bureaucracy which seems to govern every policeman's life and is a nightmare - I was shown files for simple cases which were inches thick and obviously take huge amounts of time to compile. I was delighted to hear Inspector Ellis' view that policing should be visible and on the streets and I couldn't agree with him more. The present reporting system must be changed and with the technology available today there is no reason why the police should spend more time writing reports than policing their patch. The custody system is another nonsense where officers have to take anyone they arrest to the custody centre in Torquay - a system that can remove them from front line duties for hours.'

He continued:

'The problems were highlighted to me just before I left when there was just one on duty police officer available to cover any emergency in the whole of the Totnes area, an area that stretches from Marldon to South Brent. The public deserve more police on the beat and for those policemen to be able to concentrate on policing rather than form filling.'