A Falmouth police constable says that some press reports of a shoplifting gang targeting Falmouth are "grossly exaggerated".

PC Matt Cummins said at a town council meeting that "there's no visiting gang doing the shoplifting," and that the £10,000 figure quoted in one press report does not add up to the figures reported to police.

Referencing police reports for January, he said: "Figures of shoplifting for this year are exactly the same as last year."

Councillor for Smithick ward John Spargo, who also owns the Tallships Trading gift shop on Church Street, addressed PC Cummins and raised some of the issues faced by fellow retailers.

He said: "There's a lot of traders in town that are concerned with the response they got. The problem is they're not just shoplifting in one shop, they're moving down the street.

"There can be three or four reports in one day. If there's a response [from police] there's a chance that they will either stop, or a good chance that someone could be arrested, but the 'no response' isn't working.

"I'm sure if you were a shoplifter you'd be laughing. It's a bit of a joke really. What's to stop them carrying on through the town taking what they want?"

PC Cummins said: "It's an age old difficulty. I can understand the frustration and I share a lot of your concerns. We are fighting resource.

"When a victim phones the police, there may be policies in place with the call handlers to ask if the [suspect] is on scene. If they're not on scene the risk drops slightly."

A spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police said: "All calls that come into our 999/111 centre are logged, reviewed and screened under a strict set of guidelines including threat risk and harm, to assess what level of response is needed to any incident.

"Response covers whole policing areas, so naturally the level of response is also affected by other matters that could be more serious or that response are already dedicated to."

Sergeant Paul Kelly from the neighbourhood team met with local business owners and members of the town council yesterday (Tuesday January 29) to discuss some of the issues they face.

Sector Inspector John Hannaford said: “Advice has been given to shops and businesses in the area in how they can help us tackle shoplifting, including ensuring CCTV is in place and fully operational, appropriate use of the Shopwatch scheme and appropriate channels to use when reporting crimes and incidents in the area."

In one of the incidents reported to police by The Bosun's Locker, PC Cummins said that 999 call handlers did not pass on the message and that he would have attended the scene otherwise.