TROUBLEMAKERS in Crediton should be on their guard as police promise to crack down on alcohol-fuelled disorder.

With a new PCSO joining two town centre beat officers and two more patrolling the surrounding area, there is no place to hide for the criminals who are a constant headache in the town.

Last Thursday, police displayed hundreds of bottles and cans of alcoholic drinks which had been confiscated in the Crediton area during 2006.

Currently locked in storage, all the drinks will be poured away.

Police believe the confiscations have helped to keep reported criminal incidents in the town to under 1,000 cases last year.

Acting Sgt Rob Curtis said: "Most of the drink has been confiscated from youths drinking under age, or from people drinking in the alcohol-free zone, mainly the high street area.

"It's an offence to drink in that area, and if they refuse to hand over we have powers of arrest.

"We get a lot of complaints from members of the public about drunken youths and this haul shows we are taking a robust attitude to alcohol-related crime.

"The situation is getting better in the alcohol-free zone and for the second year running the number of reported crimes is down."

Sgt Curtis said Crediton was a low-crime area and the arrival of the PCSOs had doubled the size of the neighbourhood policing team.

He said the ShopWatch radio link had been improved and the CCTV system was also being upgraded.