PAPERWORK continues to hamper Petersfield’s policing team with domestic offences and shoplifting adding to the trail.

But there are no plans to lighten the load through technology with forms often being duplicated for different parts of the justice system.

PC Tarrant and PCSO Cawte were the guests when the Petersfield Liberal Democrats held its latest open monthly meeting.

The pair gave a fascinating insight during the non-political meeting into the workings of the town’s policing team and some of the issues facing its five PCs and three PCSOs.

PC Tarrant said the largest workload was created by domestic incidents and spates of shoplifting caused by several repeat offenders.

The incidents caused a huge amount of paperwork which is often manually copied for use by the CPS.

The audience also heard that only 12 retailers in town are part of the Shopwatch scheme which enables participants to identify and warn partners of known offenders.

There is a fee for the service’s phone but should reduce losses.