PERSHORE residents have been reassured their town remains a low crime area by the commander of the Vale.

Senior police officer Inspector Steve Brooker of West Mercia Police held talks with town councillors at a meeting last Thursday. He said despite a slight increase in burglary dwellings in the area, the detection rate had gone up.

Insp Brooker said: "We have had one or two nasty incidents where some elderly and vulnerable people had handbags snatched off them, but we have someone in custody for that and it seems to have come to an end."

When appointed in May this year the officer, with 24 years policing experience, vowed to make quality of service and the reduction of fear of crime in the area his top priorities.

He added: "I think we can say we are relatively confident, without getting too complacent, that Pershore is a low crime area.

Councillors also raised concerns about the new call system the police have implemented and the way in which the constabulary deals with different incidents. Insp Brooker admitted there had been some initial difficulties with the phone system.

The officer said: "It is a relatively new call centre for the police but I would like to think things are improving. At the moment we do have difficulty getting through but there is no difficulty getting through 999 calls. We have to prioritise and there are occasions when people cannot understand why we do not come to something."