because officers are deployed on other jobs, it was revealed yesterday.

Police were yesterday unable to give the number of officers taken from parish duties.

But The Royal Gazette has been told that the complement of Parish constables has been cut from 25 to just 12.

And yesterday Richard Powell, a community activist and shopkeeper in Ord Road, Paget, known for street drug-dealing, said Police had got it wrong.

He claimed: "They are robbing Peter to pay Paul and they're definitely robbing the wrong Peter.'' Mr. Powell was backed by W.A. (Toppy) Cowen, chairman of the Eastern Division Police Consultative Committee, one of the groups set up under former Police Commissioner Colin Coxall to beat crime by forging better Police/community links.

He said: "Anything which takes away the manpower from what we are trying to do on the Island, I find disturbing.

"Every once in a while we hear of a Task Force -- if we were looking after the problems on a daily basis we wouldn't need them so much. That's what the Parish constables are all about.'' A Police spokeswoman, however, insisted the reduction in the scheme was "merely temporary''.

But she was unable to put a timescale on their return to their normal duties.

She said the Task Force scheme and a tutor constable programme for the latest graduates of the force's training school meant the Parish constable network has had to be reduced.

But she added: "It's not like the Parish constables have been permanently reduced.

"Because of all the task forces which are on, we are drawing from other units. And we also have a tutor constable programme for the 23 new recruits.'' The spokeswoman said the tutor constable scheme was scheduled to last two weeks.

But she added she was "not willing to give any kind of timeframe'' for a return to full Parish constable numbers.

And she insisted: "None of our operations have been compromised as a result of this.'' Mr. Powell added Mr. Coxall had boosted the Parish constable scheme -- and that the extra weight was beginning to show results.

He said: "It was working very well -- but this will cause things to slide back. This is what happened before -- we lost all the Parish constables and look at what was happening in all the parishes.'' Mr. Powell added he accepted the need for the Task Force and other calls on Police manpower.

But he insisted: "It takes a while to build up relationships on a parish level -- I don't think officers should be pulled from that.

"And if we have to bring in more Policemen like we did in the past, then we have to do that.'' The Parish constable scheme has been in existence for years.

But former Police Commissioner Colin Coxall pledged to make community policing and the Parish constables a main part of his new strategy for the force after he was appointed in 1995.

And he said a civilianisation programme would release trained Police officers for parish duties, allowing him to deploy 25 officers.

But a new initiative -- the special Task Forces -- was launched late last year by then-Acting Commissioner Harold Moniz which involved tying up 27 officers for special rapid response squads to target major trouble.

Editorial: Page 4