A MUM has called for more bobbies on the beat following an attack on her son in Simmons Park last Monday (May 29).

Gabbie King, who lives in Okehampton, reported that her son and two of his friends had been attacked by a group of youths and been left shaken and with physical injuries, but were left for an hour waiting for the police to arrive.

She said: ‘I was very, very angry at the thugs but my anger then turned to police because you’re talking about three very vulnerable children being attacked in that park and it wasn’t enough for an emergency response. 

‘If the police had got there earlier and controlled the situation, could it have been avoided?’

After speaking to police who informed her that there are very few officers in the area, Ms King has made it her mission to help the police by campaigning for more officers on ground  to ensure no other teenager suffers from such an attack again.

She added: ‘The police’s workload is ridiculous. They’ve joined up to the service to do a job and they can’t do the job they want to do because they haven’t got the police. They haven’t got the staff to manage it all. 

‘It’s absolute shocking. And I’m determined to do something because we need more police on the ground. I feel like a very angry minnow in a very large lake. I can’t do it on my own. I need the community to help me out with it and they’ve been amazing.’

However, analysis carried out by the Daily Telegraph in March this year, revealed that half of all police forces in England and Wales have fewer officers than they did in 2010 - a trend that is reflected in the Okehampton area, which has left officers unable to attend all incidents straight away.

Sergeant Tom Ottley from Okehampton Police, said: ‘Staffing in West Devon is set based on statistics of incidents from the previous 12 months.

In the past few months there has been an uplift in staff in the West Devon area across Neighbourhood and Response functions which has increased front line officers available to respond to incidents. 

‘Our response to incidents are assessed on threat, risk, harm and the immediacy of any of those aforementioned factors. Police will not immediately respond to all calls for service as this would be unrealistic and unsustainable. I understand this is frustrating for the public as every call they make is the most important one to them, but we need to prioritise.’

Official statistics published by the Home Office in April this year reveal that over 20,000 extra police officers were recruited between September 2019 and March 2023 as part of the police uplift programme which was set up to help forces recruit more officers. As of March 31, 2023 there were 149,572 police officers across England and Wales.

Okehampton Police are currently investigating the attack in Simmons Park and are reassuring the public that such assaults rarely happen in the area.

Sgt Ottley added that officers are working on a scheme to prevent such attacks in time for the summer holidays as such attacks, he said, are more likely to occur during school holidays.