“Eight officers” allegation

Police chiefs have hit back at allegations that Shropshire sometimes has eight or fewer officers on duty overnight to serve its 500,000-strong population.

Chief superintendent Kevin Purcell accused his constables of exaggerating to the public about how stretched they were.

He denied the claim, and warned against spreading it, saying the rumour alone could cause an increase in break-ins.

He also pledged to deal personally with officers who made that “excuse”.

The Chief Supt also made the promise after Councillor Roger Evans – who holds seats on Great Hanwood Parish Council, Pontesbury Parish Council and Longden Parish Council – told him one of his council areas had had a police constable visit “once in the last three years”.

He said an arson incident, where two sheds were burned down, is now being investigated by detectives, but is the culmination of a long-running anti-social behaviour problem.

“That has been going on for some time and to get the police there has been difficult,” he said.

“I’m told that, in the county I live in, very often the front-line police consists of eight officers in total.

“Some of those are seconded into Telford, because they have a higher crime rate there.”

Chief Supt Purcell, who took charge of local policing across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin in April, said: “That sounds like my officers making excuses, and I’m ashamed of it.

“There is no way there are ever only eight officers on duty in Shropshire.

“There are 70 or 80 on duty in the day. In the evening it does drop a bit, but never that amount.

“That’s a local cop saying ‘I haven’t got enough time’ or resources.

“Next time that happens, let me know personally, because I’m not having it, because otherwise the neighbours say it, then someone else tells their friends or family, and so on. Four burglaries later, we have created our own problem.

“If that happens, tell them Chief Superintendent Kevin Purcell will go – but they have to ring me personally to tell me.

“I guarantee they won’t do that.”

He was speaking, alongside West Merica Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion, at the AGM of the Shropshire Association of Local Councils.

Mr Campion told the meeting he had sent letters surveying councillors about police availability and visibility in their towns and parishes.

“We didn’t get a huge response,” he said.

“Forty-five from Shropshire and 12 from Telford and Wrekin. But, considering it was the first time I’ve done it, it was a good response.”

However, he told the meeting that 83 per cent of respondents from Telford and Wrekin and 62 per cent of Shropshire respondents rated police visibility as “poor or very poor”.

He said: “I know that these communities have got active police and they are doing the things they should do, but there is an obvious disconnect.

“We aren’t going to give up. We want to make sure that you have confidence.”

At the meeting, held in a conference room at the New Bucks Head stadium, Katrina Baker – the clerk of Edgmond Parish Council – was elected president of the SALC.

She will help lead the organisation as it celebrates its 70th anniversary next year.