THE MAYOR of Oswestry has confronted the police and crime commissioner over the town's "ghostly" law-enforcement presence following incidents in the town.

Councillor Sandy Best said pre-teen youths were acting "lawlessly" and intimidating innocent residents – but not being dealt with by officers.

West Mercia PCC John Campion admitted police visibility was below-par in the eyes of the public, but urged them not to give up reporting incidents.

They were speaking at the AGM of the Shropshire Alliance of Local Councils, held in Telford.

Cllr Best said: "The police presence in Oswestry is positively ghostly.

"There is a level of lawlessness in the town with youths from 11 to 14.

"Recently, a worker at Oswestry Library was targeted because she had the audacity to ask them to leave because they were causing trouble," she said.

"Later, they slashed her tyres in front of her."

She described a separate incident where a pensioner was surrounded by young people and intimidated while locking up Oswestry Christ Church for the night.

Cllr Best, who represents the Victoria ward and was appointed mayor by Oswestry's 18-member town council in May, added that non-violent but upsetting incidents like that were sometimes not even given a crime number when reported.

Mr Campion reminded residents that there was more to policing than the officers visible on the street.

"The police in Oswestry isn't just a local policing team," he said.

"There are also a sergeant and inspector responsible for the area.

"If there is a problem with anti-social behaviour around the library, the people who work there should have a good relationship with the local police, because the police will always respond to acute incidents."

He said Oswestry and Shropshire had very different policing needs to the UK's big cities, but stressed that quality of life was impacted by crime of all kinds.

He added: "The problem we have here is – and this is a patronising term that I don't like using – petty crime and anti-social behaviour.

"The lady who was locking up her church: She is changing her behaviour because of it. In my opinion that is the worst kind of behaviour.

"If you want to go about your business, you should be able to do that.

"Always report it, if there is something going on, but work with us to solve it too."

He told the meeting that he sent out a survey to local councillors across Shropshire, and 62 per cent of respondents rated police visibility as "poor or very poor".

He said: "I know that these communities have got active police and they are doing the things they should do, but there is an obvious disconnect.

"We aren't going to give up. We want to make sure that you have confidence."