The police boss in charge of Addingham has defended her force's record after accusations that the village was a police-free zone.

Ilkley Inspector Alison Bennett described some of the comments made at the annual village meeting in Addingham as "irresponsible".

And she added: "Addingham is patrolled 24 hours a day and supplemented by WPC Sheila Kirkham when possible."

Insp Bennett said that compared to other parts of the Keighley division, Addingham was a low-crime area and the police were working hard to keep it that way and trying to reduce the number of offences even further.

And she called for the involvement of the whole community to solve perceived village problems rather than people sitting back expecting police to saturate the area with officers who were badly needed to solve problems in areas with a high-crime rate.

Insp Bennett revealed the ratio of crimes in Addingham was one crime to every 30 residents, compared with one in 12 in other parts of the district.

She also warned that claims that Addingham was a police-free zone could attract more criminals to the area if they thought they would get away with their activities.

And she said some incidents thought to be examples of vandalism, were later discovered to be simple accidents.

In one incident, police called to investigate damage at the scout hut behind the Memorial Hall found that a window had been broken accidentally by youngsters playing football.

Insp Bennett said that the youngsters, still carrying their ball, were looking for someone to explain what had happened when the police arrived.

Regarding problems created by youths congregating in the Memorial Hall car park, Insp Bennett said the best way forward was for young people in the village and parish councillors to work together to find somewhere for them to meet.

She said although the idea of opening up the football pavilion as a drop-in centre had been suggested months ago, no progress appeared to have been made.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.