INSPECTOR John Perry spoke about crime in Dawlish at the town council's finance and general purposes committee meeting last week.
He said that compared to this time last year, there had been a 95 per cent reduction in house burglary – 18 incidents in April last year and only one this year – and that vehicle crime was down by 66 per cent. Violence figures stayed the same with 20 incidents.
Insp Perry said: 'I expect these figures to drop further and, as there has been a rise in violence in many areas of Teignbridge, for Dawlish to stay the same is not bad. Even Teignmouth has had a rise.'
Cllr Ted Hockin spoke of the recent vandalism at Coryton Cove where a beach hut and deck chairs had been burnt, saying that it 'had been chaotic, horrible and there was broken glass everywhere'.
PC Steve Rae, who was accompanying Insp Perry, said: 'It was pointed out by the community warden that a party of people down there had black bin liners to use for their rubbish.
'We can only assume that it was the small minority who came back later in the night to cause the damage.'
Cllr Clive Samuel said: 'One of my daughters was one of the youngsters down on the beach and she did not see any fire. I can also vouch that rubbish was collected, as my bin was full of it in the morning.'
PC Perry said: 'It would seem that a small minority returned after the party had dispersed, and we had been re-deployed. That is when the damage was done. It needs to be remembered that this force does jobs that would not be touched in other parts of the country and we have achieved our 999 and performance targets.
The question of CCTV in the town was also raised. Insp Perry said that the Teignbridge CCTV headquarters could now cover Dawlish and all that was needed was cameras.
Cllr John Clatworthy said: 'CCTV is our highest priority at the moment and when, we have the cash, we will get it.'