A SENIOR policeman has denied that the marine community is at risk because of the police's lack of boats.

The Daily Echo has already reported that the police launch Alarm has been out of action all summer and will not be repaired in time for the Labour Party conference later this month and that one of the rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) was also broken.

But it is now understood that one of the remaining two RIBs has also been recently undergoing repair work.

One of the RIBs had a £60,000 refurbishment at the end of last year but is still suffering from an intermittent fuel leak and so was taken out of action about a week ago.

The police also have a Delta RIB, which had a minor problem with its navigation system, although this has been now repaired.

The third smaller boat, it is understood, is only used for work in harbours and close to the shore.

The marine section's personal watercraft, similar to a jet-ski, is in working order but can not be used safely without a RIB on the water nearby.

Assistant chief constable Adrian Whiting said that not having any boats on the water was not necessarily a problem.

He said: "Sometimes if we know we do not need the boats for any patrols, we schedule maintenance work for all the boats at the same time."

If during such instances the police were required to respond to incidents at sea, then they would either charter a vessel or use boats owned by the coastguard, HM Revenue and Customs or one of the Hampshire Police boats, he said, adding that the marine section would get another RIB soon.

Mr Whiting said: "People do take comfort from seeing the Alarm on the water but that does not mean they should assume there is no policing when the vessel is not there."

The Alarm needs extensive work estimated to cost about £100,000.

Mr Whiting said: "We need to consider what should be done and if this is a good use of the considerable amount of money."

He said it was useful to have a marine section to police the large marine community in Dorset and to provide assistance to vessels such as ferries up to the territorial limit 12 miles off shore.

For the Labour Party conference from September 23-27 Dorset Police will use boats and extra manpower from Hampshire Police.