Some of you may not know that Devon and Cornwall police have their own news updates on their oficial website, relating to their activities and the crimes that are of concern to them. These can range from some quite serious offences to relatively minor ones.
These news items are uploaded on this site and can be found on the right hand side under the heading Police News – Cornwall. CPW have made a point of linking the news items that relate to Cornwall only and have done this for about two - three months. However, on visiting the Devon and Cornwall police news page here, you will see that the vast majority of news items relate to Devon and not Cornwall. In fact for April 2008 for example, of the 55 news items on the Devon and Cornwall police news page, only 20 have relevance for Cornwall. This also includes news items that are related to activities undertaken by Devon and Cornwall police and also where it is unknown what area the news item covers.
This does not apply just to the month of April, but this is the case for the vast majority of months, as can be seen by searching through the police news archives. This is yet another instance of how Cornwall is largely ignored Devon and Cornwall police and, as highlighted previously in CPW, this is also the case regarding the poor coverage that Cornwall gets in the Devon and Cornwall police newspaper, ‘Billboard’.
There are two possible answers for why this is the case. Either Devon and Cornwall police are not interested in Cornwall or there isn’t as much police activity or crime in Cornwall as there is in Devon.
Both possible answers require some explanation and these are the CPW hypotheses:
1. Devon and Cornwall police are not interested in Cornwall: this is the situation with all colonial police forces. As long as their interests are protected the rest can take care of itself. After all, why would Devon and Cornwall police want to organise any of their activities in Cornwall when they can do it in their country?
2. There isn’t as much police activity or crime in Cornwall as there is in Devon: that’s because Cornwall does not have the hell hole that is Plymouth and is Cornwall is more rural and evenly distributed in terms of population.
Both hypotheses require possible solutions and this is what CPW offers:
1. Devon and Cornwall police are not interested in Cornwall: create a Cornwall police constabulary. There is no reason why this shouldn’t be the case anyway.
2. There isn’t as much police activity or crime in Cornwall as there is in Devon: tax payers in Cornwall should therefore pay less. Why should Cornwall taxpayers have to subsidise the higher crime rate in Devon?
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