'We don't expect the police to respond' (From Warrington Guardian)

'We don't expect the police to respond'

POOR police response times have come under fire from residents living in Fearnhead and Cinnamon Brow after a borough councillor vented his frustration on their behalf.

At a meeting of Poulton with Fearnhead Parish Council, Clr Mick Curran voiced his dissatisfaction with the service the police were providing in his ward.

Addressing the parish council, he urged immediate action to resolve the issue and demanded that a member of the police attend a future meeting to address the concerns of the parish.

Recalling a list of incidents where residents have had their vehicles damaged or been assaulted and had reported it to the police but no officers had attended, Clr Curran described the situation as 'a disgrace'.

But he praised the work of Community Support Officer Tom Orr and said: "Officer Orr is a great example of policing.

"He's always on the lookout for problems that he can solve and is always visibly policing the community.

"I do, however, feel that he lacks the support of his seniors and that is a real shame.

"If we don't complain about the situation, nothing will be done about it.

"We've reached a stage where people don't even expect the police to respond to an incident, they're so used to being ignored."

Chief Inspector John Turton said: "Unless something is actually happening, it is a situation that isn't best resolved by deploying officers.

"The chances are that the problem will have moved by the time officers have arrived or that they will arrive and simply move the youths on, which doesn't solve anything.

"Because of this, the call taker will take as much information as possible from the caller and pass the incident over to the local Community Action Team."