THERE is a glimmer of hope that Princes Risborough may see more bobbies on the beat following comments from the new area police chief, John Donlon.

The area commander for Chiltern Vale said that although he could not definitely say yes to more officers, they are looking at the town closely to see if improvements can be made.

He added: "We are looking at Princes Risborough in relation to the bigger scheme of things as to how we police it and whether the numbers of officers are right for the problems in Risborough or whether we need to increase it."

But he told a press conference in High Wycombe on Tuesday: "We have to put resources where the crimes are.

"Princes Risborough proportionally has less crime than Wycombe or surrounding areas.

"But there is still a quality of life issue and people want to see police officers on the streets and we are trying to achieve what the public wants."

He said they are trying to match resources to demand but said one of his top priorities is to make police officers more visible in both urban and rural areas.

Chiltern Vale Police will also be looking at the reactive teams at Marlow Police Station, who at the moment respond to calls coming in from Princes Risborough, which is around 15 miles away.

The new moves come after a number of criticisms of policing levels and response times in the town.

Sgt Gordon Wilkins in Princes Risborough admitted to the Free Press as far back as February that his force's response times were "appalling".

And a beat officer told residents at a town centre forum that there were almost no officers on duty in the town over Easter during a procession.

While two officers were working in Amersham, only one special constable attended the procession, where there were supposed to be a minimum of four on duty.