POLICE have been asked to sort out “the drinkers” who allegedly congregate by a bench outside the United Reformed Church in Wellington.

A member of the public raised concerns at Wellington Town Council’s full monthly meeting on Monday, August 4, about the problems and suggested that perhaps the benches should be removed altogether from outside the Fore Street church so that the area does not become so popular with a small number of “street drinkers”.

In his report to the council, Sgt Jon O’Connor, said his team “had received recent reports concerned with the behaviour of a small number of street drinkers within the town centre.”

He continued: “We have already arrested two of this group earlier in the month for public order offences and for any non-criminal behaviour we continue to make referrals to our anti-social behaviour team so that we can work towards legislative orders with prohibitions and restrictions.”

He added: “But we are limited on what we can do as merely drinking alcohol in the street is not a criminal offence.

“If we arrested them one day, they would be back the next. But we are aware of the concerns.”

Sgt O’Connor urged people to consider reporting incidents to the police by phoning 101 or speak to an officer face-to-face.

“The more reports I have got the better it is for me when I ask for additional resources,” he explained.

Sgt O’Connor, meanwhile, had reported the previous month about two burglaries in Hoyles Road where a masked intruder was allegedly disturbed by the occupants and brandished a knife before running off into the night.

“Despite the initial evidential limitations, thanks to some community intelligence a member of my team was able to place the offender at the scene of the burglaries at the relevant time using verified data from his GPS tag,” he said.

Electric monitoring, or EMS, (known as 'tagging') is used in England and Wales to monitor curfews and conditions of a court or prison order.

“We arrested the male on this evidence who was subsequently charged and now serving a 35-week prison sentence, all within a fortnight of committing the offences.”

The 21-year-old Adam Parsons, who threatened a homeowner with a knife, pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary, being in possession of a bladed article and criminal damage, and was sentenced at Taunton Magistrates' Court on Monday, July 14.

Sgt O’Connor said he was also pleased to report that police would be making full use of the new community hub at the Kings Arms in High Street, Wellington, and had just started a programme of drop-in beat surgeries.

Running from 10am to 11am every other Thursday, the next surgery will take place on August 14 and people are invited to go along and speak with officers.

Sgt O’Connor reported: “Depending on footfall, we will be open to extending the frequency or considering other times of day should there be a demand for it from the community.”