THE South Hams has a new police inspector in Chris Tapley, who will now cover Kingsbridge, Dartmouth, Ivybridge and Totnes.

Inspector Tapley said he was ‘here for good’ as far as he was concerned and when his bosses offered him the position he ‘bit their arm off’.

Coming from a crime and detective background, he is keen to re-learn the ‘neighbourhood policing’ side of the job and wants to focus on ‘joined up thinking’ across the whole South Hams area, while his experience and contacts will be invaluable to the local policing teams.

‘I know there can be issues around marine crime in the area, especially Dartmouth, Kingsbridge and Salcombe, which we will be focussing on,’ said Insp Tapley, ‘as well as problems surrounding new psychoactive substances, especially following the tragic incident with Nathan Wood in Totnes recently.’

When asked about the visibility of the police in the South Hams, he said his focus was on ‘retaining the people I’ve got’ and making sure the 64 officers he has under him are ‘spread fairly and I have the right people in the right place.’

He reiterated the way that policing is changing with the increase in cybercrime, counter-terrorism, safeguarding and child protection, saying a lot of the work the police do is ‘hidden’, but that he would ‘look at what I can do’ to make sure the police were ‘visible’ and there to provide ‘reassurance’ to local residents.

He said he had already been asked whether the police station in Kingsbridge was staying and he said ‘Yes, as far as I know and I will always make the case for having a station in the town.’

Sgt Dave Green, Kingsbridge Police, said part of his job was ‘using the resources in an effective and visible way’ and spoke of how vital PCSOs and Special Constables were in the South Hams.