COUNCILLORS are calling for more bobbies on the beat in Frinton and Walton after residents raised concerns over the benefit of paying for PCSOs after an apparent spate of van break-ins.

Frinton ward councillor Terry Allen was forced to defend the £250,000 Walton and Frinton Town Council spend on police community support officers each year.

The issue was raised during a meeting at which two fed-up members of the public, who have had their vehicles broken into, questioned the role of PCSOs in the area.

Residents said they are frustrated as the community teams only operate until 10pm.

Sympathising with residents, Mr Allen spoke about his own experiences with vehicle break-ins and stressed the need for more officers.

He said: “My van has been broken into three times, so I am in the same situation.

“They turn the lights out at night and the whole place is in complete darkness.

“We then become easy prey and the problem has only exaggerated since the lights started being switched off.

“It is the police who should be patrolling the streets at night – that is what we expect but we don’t get police patrols.

“If you call them up and say your van is being broken into, I can guarantee they won’t come out.”

Despite his frustration with the reduced police numbers in the area, Mr Allen praised the area’s PCSOs.

He said: “It isn’t the PCSOs which we are lacking, it is the actual Essex Police officers.

“PCSOs have been instrumental in catching most of the people that have being doing burglaries lately in the area – they do really well.

“A lot of the police’s information actually comes from PCSOs and so we really do need both the police and the PCSOs.”

Inspector Darren Deex, from the Tendring Community Policing Team, echoed Mr Allen’s praise of the area’s PCSOs.

He said: “Frinton and Walton are really safe parts of Essex - our six fully funded PCSOs do a fantastic job keeping the communities of Frinton and Walton safe from harm.

“When calls come in to us we have to prioritise them based on the threat, harm and risk to an individual each incident presents.

“This means those where someone’s safety or welfare is at risk will get the most immediate response.

“In the last couple of weeks we haven’t received a report of a theft from a vehicle in the Frinton and Walton areas. In fact in Tendring, we’re seeing fewer thefts from vehicles than across the county as a whole.

“It’s really important that incidents and issues are reported to us whenever they happen.

“If things aren’t reported to us we don’t know about it, so can’t tackle the issue.”