Police Officer Tom Ottley has taken over as leader of the West Devon Neighbourhood Policing Team.

Sergeant Ottley is in charge of Tavistock and all other West Devon PCs and PCSOs and has spent all of his policing career in Plymouth, most recently as a neighbourhood beat manager for Plymouth city centre and the waterfront.

Now he is in post, Sgt Ottley’s priorities will centre on access, engagement and visibility, which he hopes will in turn improve public confidence. He stresses that success in local policing is achieved through partnership — working with other professional agencies.

Specific crimes which are taking the focus of the neigbourhood team include anti-social behaviour, rural crime, speeding and drink and drug driving; tackling the latter two offences ties in with Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez’s ambitions with Vision Zero — a road safety strategy to eliminate deaths on the roads to zero by 2040.

Sgt Ottley said: ‘I have experience in dealing with anti-social behaviour and we are looking at how our neighbourhood teams tackle this. We consider measures such as community protection warnings which are produced with the local authority and put prohibitions on people and other civil injunctions or behaviour orders.

‘I’m passionate about working on engagement with youth and young people ­— positively engaging with them and gaining trust while they are young as making a good impression can last a lifetime.’

‘Public perception is part of our consideration. We want to provide a good service and I want everyone to feel safe in their communities. West Devon is the safest area of the whole Devon and Cornwall constabulary, which itself is one of the safest areas in the country.’

Sgt Ottley joined the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary in 2012 as resource deployment officer in a control room answering 999 calls and operating as a radio dispatcher for three years. He then qualified as an officer in 2015, progressing to work as a part of a response team in Devonport and then Crownhill until March 2020. He sunk his teeth into neighbourhood policing and tackling anti-social behaviour when working as neighbourhood beat manager for the waterfront and city centre areas in Plymouth.

Now getting to know his new patch, he stressed that West Devon Police are continuing to enhance their visibility through patrols around the area, which are documented weekly on their Facebook page. They will also be at local shows and events including those for the upcoming Coronation and Tavistock Pride.

He added: ‘We wish to show the public that we are here — just because someone may not see us it doesn’t mean that we aren’t out there.’