THE new community co-ordinator for Devizes and Marlborough Beth Butwell was following in the footsteps of both her father and grandfather when she joined the police.

PC Butwell, 29, who now organises neighbourhood teams in the two towns and their many surrounding villages, started working as a Special in Gloucestershire while still at university in Wales where she studied police science.

In 2014 she moved counties to become a PCSO in Wiltshire and in 2016 became a full officer.

Now she is the person who collates the crimes in the east of the county and liases with town and parish councils to find out what concerns they may have. She said: " My job is about working with the community, making resources available and setting out priorities.

"We are lucky really in towns like Devizes and Marlborough as crime levels are low but we are proactive with patrols when we hear about an issue. Part of my job is to look for for crimes that might be linked."

She said police in Devizes knew of a group of people who were often responsible for shoplifting and officers kept an eye on their movements. In Marlborough patrols had been stepped up after concerns over drug taking in Priory Gardens.