A Southampton man has been charged with burglary and actual bodily harm after an incident at Alton Library. He was due to appear at Aldershot Magistrates Court yesterday (Thursday).
The Herald understands the incident resulted in a citizenÕs arrest.
One eyewitness, who did not want to be named, said: ÒI was quite concerned at the amount of time the police took to get to the library. We made two or three 999 calls and they must have taken about 15 minutes to get there. Considering that the police station is only round the corner, this is absolutely disgraceful.Ó
SEO Sue Waring of Alton police answered this criticism by saying: ÒPeople forget that we donÕt just cover the town, we cover the whole surrounding area as well. The car we sent was actually attending a call in Four Marks at the time it was dispatched at 2-28 pm, and it had arrived at the library by 2-35 pm.
ÒI think that seven minutes between Four Marks and Alton really isnÕt that bad. The support van was dispatched after the request came from the car when it arrived at the site, and the van was there two minutes later.
ÒBoth vehicles had arrived within nine minutes, and considering the size of the area we cover, I would consider this response time to be fairly impressive.Ó
Referring to the citizenÕs arrest, SEO Waring added: ÒWe praise brave actions such as these by members of the public, and we are very grateful to those who intervened in this case, for their help in making the arrests. However, we do not actively encourage such acts, due to the risk of personal injury.Ó