Dawlish police are urging anyone concerned about rough sleepers in the town to download a smartphone app called StreetLink, to alert organisations that can help them.

StreetLink will send the details to the district council and local charities combating homelessness.

If a large number of people in the same area are using the app, this gives the support organisations useful information on when and where the rough sleeper has been seen, and it means all those involved have the same details to work from.

Why StreetLink works so well

The Neighbourhood Beat Manager for Dawlish town centre, PC Mark Hogan, said: "Really it's like any tech nowadays - the more people that use it, the better it becomes.

"Say we had 10,000 people in Dawlish download that app, those people will go out and about in our community and see that individual and they can make a note on the app and send it away.

"It goes to StreetLink and then they distribute that information to our Teignbridge outreach people and other charities that have obviously been vetted so that they can put in the right help at the right time."

Using StreetLink is not 'interfering'

He said the support would be offered only to those who were genuinely homeless and wanted assistance.

"Not all homeless people want help, some are quite happy in what they're doing, and if that's the case so be it, we will leave them alone.

"But by collecting that information we're all working from the same hymn-sheet so to speak, and all talk to each other, so we know what's happening and we're not interfering in their life too much if they don't want that assistance or help."

PC Hogan said the police had been doing a lot of work with local charities, and until recently the number of homeless people seen in Dawlish had been very low.

But perhaps because of the relaxation of the Covic-19 restrictions, there had been a couple of instances lately – and in one case the homeless person was re-housed as a result of people using the StreetLink app.

However, Streetlink should be used only for alerting the authorities to people over 18 – if a rough sleeper is thought to be younger, concerned residents should speak directly to the police.

For more information, visit the StreetLink website