Devon & Cornwall Police

Priority reason: 12 Sep 2019

To address and reduce criminality within the rural community by linking in with our partners on a regular and effective basis. Increase the use of and membership to the Devon Alert scheme.  

Our response:

UPDATE 12 Sep 2019 The Chief Constable Visit. Quad Bike and Farm Thefts.

This summer has been challenging for the team at South Molton as Staff members have moved on and we await new supplies!

We are looking forward to new members joining the Response team who are based at South Molton but are available for deployment across North Devon.

PC Steve Theobald has taken over from Pc Graham James as the Neighbourhood Officer for South Molton and South Molton Rural. Steve has been a Response Officer at South Molton and knows the area well. 

To provide a more rural focused service to Exmoor,Pc Mark Langworthy who works from Lynton and has responsibilty for most of the Devon Side of the Moor,will take on some of the South Molton area that is a rural moorland community, this will mean Twitchen, Molland and the Ansteys. 

We were pleased to have the Chief Constable Visit our area, and we wanted him to see the extent and unique type of issues that Exmoor and Rural South Molton have.  He met with a two farmers and their families and a Ranger from the National park.  He was told about farm thefts, poaching and Raves and how policing such a huge area relied on public support.

There has been periods when we have been targetted by travelling criminals who steal quad bikes and tools from farms and busniesses.  They have been bold this year and are walking onto farms during the day and driving off with equipment.  We are working with our own Rural Affairs team and other forces who neighbour us to share information and tactics. There have been a number of succesful arrests across Devon and Somerset following reports from the public and we have seized some vans involved in crime.

As a force we want to focus more on prevention and making it difficult for rural criminals to operate. This means basic security, property marking and trackers, sharing information and vigilance.  We want to send the message that our area is a difficult one for theives and we are not a soft traget.

We have started our nightime rural crime operations again for the autumn and as a consequence stopped a Rave before it got going.   These ops are aimed at stopping poaching and rural thefts. 

The full history of this priority

Priority reason: 26 Nov 2018

South Molton Local policiing team, in conjunction with our new Police Support Volunteer Millie and Councillor Advocates, aims to increase and improve the quality and effectiveness of our connectivity and communication with the communities we serve.   

Our response:

UPDATE 12 Sep 2019 Volunteer and Rural Policing

Millie has left her role as Volunteer to pursue her studies and we have Laura joining us to keep our Facebook and Social media pages updated.  Please follow our page on Facebook 'South Molton Police'   as Laura will be posting local and relevant items relating to our policing activity.

The Force has created a new team to guide and support our Neighbourhood teams with Rural Policing.  The force along with other like forces across the country have recognised that rural communites are especially vulnerable to certain types of crime.    Pc Martin Beck has responsibilty for Devon and has recently been in South Molton at the Market and Mole Valley to give advice and support around crime prevention and encourage reporting of information.  There will be a stand at the North Devon Show this year so come and have a chat.  

The full history of this priority

Priority reason: 25 Sep 2018

South Molton Local Policing team are actively engaged with promoting road safety initiatives across the area in an effort to improve driving standards, targeting the 'fatal five' distraction factors. This includes the use of mobile phones, failing to wear seat belts and speeding in the South Molton area.

Our response:

UPDATE 11 May 2019 Red Thumb Day and Enforcement

Red Thumb day was on the 23rd April and we shared some pictures on our Facebook page.   Our Colleagues in Roads Policing are spending as much spare patrol time  as possible working on the A361 as we are now into the busy summer period.   

The purpose of Red Thumb day is to make drivers aware of distractive devices such as phones and tablets when driving.  This is one of the offences our roads policing officers will be looking out for on the A361 over the summer. 

We are also acting on information and intelligence you have been telling us about those who choose to not have insurance for their vehicles.  We have seized a vehicle recently and have more on the list we are looking out for.     Having no insurance or MOT costs us all, as premiums go up to cater for the cost from uninsured drivers.  Not having an MOT means the car is not safe and a danger to others, both drivers and pedestrians.  Keep giving us the information we will act on it.

We have seen a couple of nasty collisions on the East Street Zebra Crossing over the last year; between pedestrians using the crossing and Vehicles.  We have prosecuted in both cases.  Please be  extra aware when using or passing the crossing and do not park or stop on the ZIG ZAG lines.   

The full history of this priority