The days of viewing Ceredigion as some sleepy little backwater where crime hardly ever happens are over, according to a senior Dyfed-Powys Police officer.

Insp Christina Fraser, who has just taken charge at Lampeter Police Station, told Aberaeron town councillors that locals needed to be ‘more alive’ to the threat of burglaries and various forms of rural crime.

The officer, whose area also includes Llandysul, Tregaron and Aberaeron, said: “While we’re hardly inner city London, burglaries have been causing some concern.

“We are going to be looking at some slightly laid-back businesses to discuss possible security arrangements with them.

“We probably need to be a bit more alive to the sort of things that are going on – the days of thinking we are living in some sort of sleepy backwater are probably gone.”

Responding to claims from town mayor Cllr Elizabeth Evans that some residents – particularly the elderly – were ‘jittery’ following recent break-ins, Insp Fraser, who started her career in Cardigan in 2002, said she was planning to deploy PCSOs to provide reassurance.

“The big hotel fire in Aberystwyth put a bit of strain on our resources, but one of my priorities is setting up a patrol plan for the winter months now that the evenings will be getting darker,” she told Cllr Evans.

“Other aims are protecting vulnerable residents and focusing on rural thefts which are a big issue for us.

“There was a lot of sheep rustling over the summer months and we will be going to the type of places that might be a target and asking people how they can strengthen their defences.”

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