IT was standing room only as residents poured out their frustrations to police last night.

Around 120 packed into a community hall to vent their grievances in the wake of a spate of break-ins, traffic problems and vandalism in the Western ward area.

But the audience heard how police resources were already stretched, and there was even a touch of “the Big Society” as beat manager PC David Johnson called for volunteer “traffic cops” to clock speeding cars.

He said: “I’d need members of the public to sign up to do it. We provide the training, speed gun, and reflective jackets; you provide your time to stand out there...

“I’m sounding a bit like David Cameron and the Big Society, but I think that’s fantastic. It would be a long-term solution.”

One man complained his car had been vandalised in Bessemer Road, and police had told him they couldn’t do anything except give him a crime number.

But PC Johnson said they have to make tough choices about how they spend their time, and urged residents not to be disheartened.

“They’re not going to find out who’s done it if there’s no CCTV, no witnesses, and you didn’t see anything,” he said.

“They won’t task it to someone, because what can they do to investigate?

“But it will get recorded. We’ll see it happened to you, where and what time.

“You might say to yourself: it felt like a waste of time from my persepective. But that information helps me to build up a picutre as to what’s going on.

“If you decided not to report it, we wouldn’t even know it had happened. And you’d still be as frustrated like you are now, but there wouldn’t be that bigger picture.”

In response to a series of garage burglaries in the area, he said they recently raided one property and made an arrest, and are working on a warrant to search another.

But despite PC Johnson’s plea, only two residents volunteered for the traffic watch scheme at the end of the night.

And although meeting chair Kevin Small (Lab., Western) called the meeting “productive”, some were left dissatisfied.

Ferndale Road resident Caroline Ballinger, 47, had her £9,000 Honda Jazz torched by vandals earlier in the week.

She said: “I feel they’ve thrown it back at us and said: ‘it’s your fault.’ It’s rife up our end and nothing’s being done. It’s getting worse.”

Firefighter Andy Butler, 41, lives a couple of doors over and had suffered four break-ins in six months.

He said: “Basically we’re saying we’d like them to increase patrols and cameras, but they’ve got no budget.”

Anyone interested in signing up to the traffic watch scheme can email dave.johnson@wiltshire.pnn.police.uk l Between January and April, the following 55 crimes were recorded in the Ferndale area: 18 garage burglaries 2 house burglaries 8 thefts from cars 1 robbery 14 low-level antisocial offences 2 assaults 4 criminal damage 6 metal thefts