Councillors have united in calling for more police officers following a spate of criminal incidents in their area.

Waltham Abbey councillors Rod Butler and Helen Kane have pointed to a lack of visible police officers on the beat as the reason for a perceived increase in crime.

The area currently has no drop-in centre to report crime after the front counter of the police station on Sun Street closed in 2011.

Residents have said how the police station opened briefly for the Olympics in 2012 but then closed again and numbers of Police Community Support Officers have dwindled from seven to five.

The town centre has a curfew of 1am in place but this hasn’t stopped recent consecutive weekend brawls in Market Square or targeted vandalism of cafes in the area.

The curfew has become ‘unenforceable’ because there are no police stationed in Waltham Abbey on weekend evenings according to the councillors.

Cllr Helen Kane, Conservative for Waltham Abbey South West, said she will raise the issue at Waltham Abbey's next local community meeting and has raised the issue with the Chief of Essex Police Stephen Kavanagh.

“We have seen an increase in criminal incidents not just in Waltham Abbey but across the whole district.

“I believe It would only take a few highly visible police officers to walk around the area to will deter these crimes.

“More police, extra CCTV and a good neighbourhood watch system should make these problems go away.

“I would urge everybody to report any crime they witness to the police so they get a case number and we can track their statistics.”

Cllr Rod Butler, UKIP councillor for Waltham Abbey Honey Lane, said the closure of the police station to the public had affected crime in the area.

He said: “We need the police station in Sun Street open again.

“I have been round there to visit and it is in a perfectly good condition to operate.

“I don’t understand why it is closed seeing as we all pay the same amount of council tax that goes towards the police.

“Even if it is just a skeleton staff, if they are present then they can successfully respond to emergency situations like we have seen.

“We are lucky that so far nobody has been killed.”

The next local community meeting where residents can raise their concerns with police will be on   November 12 at 7pm in Roydon Village Hall, Harlow Road.

Essex Police have been approached for comment.

For more on this story, see this Thursday's Epping Forest Guardian.  

What do you think needs to be done to tackle rising crime? Have your say in the comments section below.