THE chairman and secretary of Malvern's Police Community Consultative Group have handed in their resignations.

Les Eaton and Whinray Coates say they are fed up because the group did not act as a true liaison between police and public.

"I'm very disillusioned," said former town mayor Mrs Coates, who has been secretary since 2002 and who was involved with the group before then.

"It was supposed to be a liaison group between the police and public, and that's a two-way thing. Instead it's just become a police mouthpiece.

"People seemed to recognise this and so they stayed away in hordes. They just weren't coming to the meetings.

"The police should be more visible and more willing to listen to what people say about what's going on. The police are not a part of the community any more and that's bad. It's not just a problem here in Malvern; it's everywhere."

Mr Eaton said he had been involved with the group for more than a decade.

"The group just couldn't do its job," he said. "Pleas from the general public went almost unheeded. The group had tried hard to combat situation but had not had the required co-operation."

Mr Eaton read out Mrs Coates's letter of resignation at a meeting of the group on Wednesday, October 20, before reading out his own.

County councillor Jennette Davy, the police authority representative on the group, said they were sorry to see Mr Eaton and Mrs Coates go. "They put in a lot of hard work over the years," she said.

The group would choose a new chairman and secretary and resume its work in the new year.

She said that, despite the criticisms, the PCCG was an important point of contact between the public and police, Neighbourhood Watch and other bodies.