‘Policing the East Coast is no holiday’ – an insight on the work of the area’s officers

Inspector Mark Jackson of Team 1, East Riding Patrol, said that keeping the area’s coastal communities safe is no holiday for the officers who respond to emergency calls and patrol hot-spot areas across the region.

He said the 24-hour cover officers provide means they are ready to react to emergency calls from the public and to deal with any active incident.

Insp Jackson said: “When officers are not deployed to a specific incident, they are busy out and about patrolling our neighbourhoods.

“They tend to focus on areas known to have a higher rate of criminal or anti-social activity (hot-spot areas). A highly visible police presence in these areas is known to deter crime and keep our communities safe, it also enables them to take action when suspicious activity is spotted.

“On one recent occasion officers observed suspicious behaviour in an area which had seen an increase of drug activity over the last couple of days.

“After suspecting a drug deal was going to take place, officers stopped and search a group of people.

“Their gut instinct was right and during the search a wrap of suspected crack cocaine and two large bags of suspected crack cocaine (with approximately 50-75 individual wraps of drugs inside) were found on the group, resulting in three people being arrested on suspicion of drugs offences.

“Another recent incident that patrol officers attended was reports someone had committed an assault and was damaging a property.

“Officers attended and arrested the suspect and subsequently located 55 weapons in the property. The suspect was then further arrested on suspicion of firearms offences and the weapons were made safe.

“The suspects are still currently under investigation for both of these incidents.

“Bridlington, along with the other coastal towns of the East Riding such as Hornsea and Withernsea, see an annual influx of tourists.

“They come to take in all that our stunning East Coast has to offer and while our summer economy booms as people enjoy a well deserved holiday, sometimes they have a too much of a good time.

“This is where our work as patrol officers comes in, as we attend incidents related to people having, perhaps, a little too much to drink.

“We respond immediately to make sure we deal appropriately with those committing offences and make sure everyone else can enjoy their time in our bars and clubs without fear of crime.

“We love our job as patrol officers; we like to help and support people, and we never know what we will be called to next. It’s what policing is all about and we will always be there when you need us.”