Robin Dadson, of Churchfields, Dartmouth, writes:

Well, well, well, what an astounding surprise. A marked increase in crime in and around Dartmouth during the past year following the closure of Dartmouth Police Station.

The plain, simple fact is that I have seen it all before, as an identical situation arose in my former place of residence after the closure of the local police station there.

Residents were assured that they had nothing to fear as ­adequate police coverage would be possible from a police station some seven or eight miles away and no increase in crime was anticipated.

Needless to say, within around a year there was a veritable explosion of offences of all types, particularly antisocial behaviour and vandalism.

Still the authorities kept insisting that nothing was amiss and records proved that reports of crime were, in fact, down year-on-year. What was never acknowledged was the fact that it took forever to get through to the police on the telephone and people simply gave up trying to report ­incidents, many of which were over while the would-be ­complainant hung on for their call to be answered.

Things dragged on for months until they came to a head one Halloween, when groups of troublemakers ­targeted the area and travelled to join those living locally for some ‘fun’.

The sum result could only be described as a riot when a reported mob of over 100 louts went on the rampage, causing as much damage as they ­possibly could. Property was vandalised, the local recycling area was attacked – now were have I heard that since? – and newspaper and broken glass was scattered all along an adjacent residential road to the depth of several inches. I still have the photographs I took the following morning.

Frightened residents ­summoned police help and two patrol cars containing four police officers attended the scene. To be fair, those officers did what they could, but four against more than 100 is pretty frightening odds and the result was that the police cars were reported as being damaged by the rioters.

Almost immediately there were proposals to set up vigilante squads as local residents got to hear of the night’s events, and only then did someone start to listen. An action group was formed, which together with the assistance of the local MP and representatives of the police and the local council met regularly to seek a solution to the problem. The outcome was an agreement that there would be a much greater and visible police presence in the area ­consisting of both police ­officers and PCSOs and, after a good few months of concerted effort, things could be said to have improved.

Sadly, of course, this increased demand on the ­policing service need never have been required if some bright spark had thought the situation through in the first place.