THE new police sergeant for Devizes and Marlborough has pledged to be a public face of the force in the two towns and surrounding villages.

Sgt Pete Foster, 35, is now based in Devizes and heads up the East Wiltshire Community Policing team after spending all his early career in Swindon.

He said: "I am really looking forward to getting to know people in the community. I want to hear about the things that matter to people. I have already been to town council meetings in both Devizes and Marlborough."

He said that while his new patch does not suffer from some of the more serious drug and violence problems experienced in other bigger towns he understood that anti-social behaviour fuelled by drink and drugs was a concern.

Sgt Foster, who grew up in Salisbury and is married with three young children, said: "We know who many of the troublemakers are and we are dealing with it.

"But if anyone has any information about drug dealing or other crimes I want to hear about it. We need people to work with us."

An example of the action already taken in Devizes against anti-social behaviour comes with the handing down of a suspended prison sentence to Neil Kibble, 48, of Century Close, Devizes.

He was found to be breach of an anti-social behaviour injunction which was handed out by the courts in August after complaints by the local community about anti-social behaviour and drug use at his address.

The injunction, which was obtained as a result of partnership work between Wiltshire Police and Aster, ordered that Kibble must not engage in conduct that causes harassment, alarm or distress, or cause housing related nuisance or annoyance.

He was also banned from possessing and storing any firearms or explosive devices, causing any damage to his home address, contacting anyone who gave evidence in court during the proceedings and allowing any illegal drugs in his property or vicinity and causing noise nuisance.

Sgt Foster said: “Kibble has continued to breach this injunction and his behaviour has led to further complaints from local residents.

“His behaviour will not be tolerated. Through excellent partnership working with the housing association Aster, we were able to initially obtain the injunction, and I am pleased that the courts have now seen fit to hand out a sentence to Kibble that reflects the concerns of the community.

“We understand that behaviour like this can have a really negative impact on a local neighbourhood and we would encourage anyone experiencing these issues to report it to 101 so we can deal with it appropriately.”

Kibble, who was issued with the 28-day suspended sentence on 24 September at Swindon Magistrates Court, also appeared for a separate offence of possession of a class B drug and was ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work.