THE daughter of a town councillor became so frustrated with waiting for police that she investigated the theft of her own wallet – and discovered who was responsible as well as a trail of evidence including CCTV.

But officers at Cleveland Police told Emily Hadlow that despite this she would have to wait a whole week for an officer to contact her.

Now her father, Yarm town councillor Jason Hadlow, said the delay was down to the ‘total erosion’ of community policing and said requesting help from police was ‘seemingly futile’.

He said he had written to Police and Crime Commissioner Barry Coppinger but received no acknowledgement of his letter.

Miss Hadlow’s wallet was stolen from her car on Sheepfoote Hill, Yarm, at about 4am on Tuesday, September 18.The credit and debit cards were used to carry out several contactless pu rchases in the Yarm area and she was alerted to each one by text as the transaction took place.

Mr Hadlow said his daughter and her partner were told by police that someone would call them back within 48 hours.

But he said: “It was highly likely that within that time the ‘trail’ would go cold and the perpetrators go unapprehended.”

Miss Hadlow, 25, found several transactions at one service station and visited the garage, where the manager said the thieves were regulars and that there was video evidence and a full audit trail.

The manager told her she could only hand the information over to the police, not to Miss Hadlow.

Mr Hadlow said: “Now we have been informed after numerous calls to the call centre that noone will be able to visit for another seven days.”

He said the matter showed ‘mismanagement’ at the police force.

A force spokeswoman said: “Officers understand the frustrations people may feel if their report isn’t dealt with within a certain time frame and they work as best as they can based on the resources the Force has available. Positive action has been taken in a bid to trace those responsible and an officer will be running a few lines of inquiry to assist with the investigation.”

Police and Crime Commissioner Barry Coppinger said Mr Hadlow should have received an automated response to his email and added: “Cleveland Police is looking into Cllr Hadlow’s complaint. It does raise questions about the speed at which the force has been able to respond and this is something I will take up as part of my scrutiny programme.” Anyone with information about the theft should contact 101.