HER beat contains the highest number of prolific young offenders in Devon but children are drawn like magnets to PC Anna Fielding when she arrives on the streets of the Frankmarsh estate.

They call her PC Anna and she smiles and shares a joke. One young girl shows off a black and bruised fingernail and you wonder how many children see Anna as a mother figure as well as The Law.

But PC Fielding is as tough as any old-time beat bobby. She even upbraids people for spitting or swearing. And if you break the law, you will be nicked.

Her patch — Frankmarsh, Gorwell, Yeo Vale and St George's — sees its share of arrests, even if the majority of residents are law-abiding people, including families and elderly residents.

The patch has a tough reputation in North Devon. Hard drugs and alcohol abuse cause problems — in homes and on the streets — and PC Fielding last week successfully led a bid to have a "crack house" closed in Frankmarsh. All this in sight of the gentle green Devon hills.

On a gnawing cold afternoon, the

Journal

joined PC Fielding, a 39-year-old police officer with 16 years experience, on patrol in Frankmarsh to find out how she viewed her work and the community she serves.

Like many of the other poorest places in Britain, Frankmarsh contains a high proportion of housing association homes and people on low incomes and state benefit. People on the estate will tell you a tiny minority of people spoil the area by breaking the law or causing nuisance.

PC Fielding said she was met with stone-faced hostility when she started working in the patch in 1999 but gradually, and because of her grit and cheerful self-effacing personality, she has won over the community — or most of it, at least. There will always be people, be they criminals or addicts, who are almost impossible to reach, she realises.

Of course, a smiling face and a listening ear do not turn around depressed housing estates. PC Fielding has also initiated, led and supported numerous projects and groups and she is convinced that the number of anti-social incidents — whether it be drunken antics or vandalism — has fallen in her patch because of concentrated work with young people.

"It is about getting the balance right," she said. "This was a very hard area to reach when I came on the beat. It took me a long time to get people to talk to me."

Some of the practical steps she has been involved with, along with other public agencies, include: establishing a close link with the local primary school; refurbishing a play park; organising a community lantern parade; and recruiting local people as Street Champions, to help encourage pride among communities.

Once local young people had helped to paint the park, for example, they were reluctant to damage it — and happy to tell the police who did.

The dozen Street Champions on the patch are asked to inspect their road once a week and report any problems. PC Fielding also works closely with the housing association, North Devon Homes, as well as North Devon Council and social services.

PC Fielding, whose passion and sense of duty shine clearly when you meet her, said: "It was about trying to turn around perceptions and build up pride in the area."

Where does this sense of community come from? Her morals, she said, were instilled by her parents, and her view of policing adapted from the local bobby where she grew up, in Mullion, Cornwall. He was a great believer in what is now known in the jargon as "restorative justice": if a teenager vandalised a fence, he should be made to fix it; merely taking him to the station and filling in forms would not solve the problem. Offenders often feel no good emotional connection to where they live. And if they do not care about their streets, it is easier to cause havoc in them.

Victims of crime also tend to be more satisfied if they see criminals working practically to make amends, PC Fielding argues.

I ask her why she became a police officer.

"I was at work in Boots in Truro and there was a girl in there who was a special constable and she came in with all these exciting stories," she said.

So she too became a special constable. After she was told by a more senior officer that she had dealt with a domestic row particularly well, she decided to join full-time and the lure of excitement was joined by a sense of duty and wanting to help.

"It does completely change your life," she said. "I thoroughly enjoy my job. I joined to make a difference. I come home enthused from a day's work when I have been involved in the community and out there, talking to people.

"Sometimes I come home and have had blood, sweat and tears over this patch...sometimes I have been unable to sleep and been in tears; it does have an impact."

Her hands-on approach is all about improving the lives of people in her patch.

"People want to live in a nice environment," she said.

The most common complaints she hears involve children or young people. These complaints fall into two categories: children just playing and accidentally annoying somebody, and children deliberately being naughty and causing a nuisance.

PC Fielding says because children play much closer to home than they ever did, perhaps because parents are afraid to let them wander, the opportunities for conflict with the adult world are greater. The sound of a football being kicked is enough to enrage some residents. Residents complain that some young people have no respect or discipline.

PC Fielding does not tolerate any sort of nuisance behaviour but she does say that children do sometimes unfairly get a hard time, not least because of tabloid stories about "hoodies" and young thugs.

A local bobby who is firm but fair might seem archaic in the era of Taser guns, Asbos, CCTV and crack house closures. But firm and fair seems to be working in Frankmarsh.

When PC Fielding goes in to Frankmarsh Stores to speak to the owner, every customer stops to speak; they have questions about recent crimes and incidents. She appears entirely at ease informally talking to the people she meets. Children stand in the doorway, eating sweets and swinging on railings, as children do, and call out to "PC Anna".

● PC Fielding has been nominated by Devon and Cornwall police for the community police officer of the year award run by the magazine Jane's Police Review. The awards are described as "the most prestigious and high-profile of their kind for recognising excellence in police forces across the UK."

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said: "PC Anna Fielding is a dedicated and committed officer. Anna's excellent communication skills have enabled her to break down barriers and build trust." The winners will be announced on Thursday, November 13.