VILLAGERS are angry to be losing rural community officers to traffic patrol teams.

Cheshire Police are taking two officers off the rural beat to replace traffic officers who have been moved to counter-terrorist investigation teams.

PC Andy Wilson, only took up his post in Mollington, Backford, Ledsham and Capenhurst a month ago.

He was the area's fourth officer this year and the beat will now be covered by Waverton and Christleton PC Neil Busby.

Mollington Parish Council chairman Charles Charlesworth described it is 'bad PR and resource management'.

He said: 'The new PC will have a very large area to cover, I don't see how he can really get to know all that area and its trouble spots properly enough to do as good a job preventing crime.'

PC Rob Fisher is leaving the Kelsall, Ashton Hayes, Delamere, Utkinton and Oakmere beat, which will now be covered by Tarvin PC Vaughan Marks.

Kelsall Parish Council chairman Noel Dutton said: 'I have the highest regard for police in this area, they have been good, old fashioned coppers doing exactly the pro-active policing that this village needed.

'But you can't fulfill targets through pro-active policing that prevents crime before it happens, and the fact is the police are target-driven these days.'

Kelsall Parish clerk Natalie Read said: 'When I moved to the village ten years ago, there was a police officer living in the police house, then he retired and we got PC Vaughan Marks, then his beat was made bigger, he moved to another area and we got PC Rob Fisher who had further areas to cover still.

'Now we will be sharing with even more villages - it is a big change in ten years. These days the thin blue line is more like a dotted blue line.'

Mrs Read said residents should now report every single incident in the village, showing Cheshire Police the true picture of crime.

She said: 'A lot of people don't bother reporting things because they are so fed up with nothing being followed up.

'But I want to send our statistics through the roof in Kelsall, so that they have to send us more resources.'

Ashton Hayes Parish Council chairman Hugo Deynem said: 'We have seen a spate of arson attacks and youth nuisance behaviour recently, so it is a travesty for them now to take officers away from the rural area.'

Inspector Phil Hodgson of the Western Rural area said perception of crime is often much higher than the actual level of incidents and officers will cope with the extra work.