Extra police officers are being dispatched over bank holiday weekends to cover problem "hotspots" in Colchester town centre.

The move comes in the wake of a successful drive to combat problems with night-time revelry at the weekend.

The crackdown, which involved sending out more officers into the town centre, was launched a year ago.

So far, the extra presence has been hailed a success by police chiefs in Colchester.

The idea was that because the town centre was busiest at weekends, more officers needed to be out on the streets.

Since the launch, the town centre has been covered by placing one sergeant, five police constables and two special constables in the town centre, with back-up from police cars.

Chief Insp Iain Logan, of Colchester police, said the system was working and added the main aim was to stop problems before they got out of control.

He added there were no current plans to further increase the police numbers on patrol as the format was ideal to meet any problems encountered.

Chief Insp Logan said the extra presence in the town centre was now here to stay and had been welcomed by various organisations and publicans

Published Friday, May 2, 2003

Brought to you by the Evening Gazette