Southend police today praised new year revellers who did them proud as the town remained largely free of violence.
The town's reputation as a late-night violence hotspot over the past few months prompted police to deploy a substantial number of extra officers on New Year's Eve, but, despite many pubs staying open for 36 hours, there was relatively little trouble.
Yesterday there were 12 people in custody at Southend police station and on New Year's Eve there were 12 fights, 12 reports of criminal damage and 12 disturbances.
Over the 24-hour period, seven assaults were recorded. Chief Insp Tony Payne, in charge of operations for Southend police, said: "We were kept busy all night but the majority of incidents were at the lower end of the scale. I wouldn't like to say I was surprised there wasn't more violence, but I think that an extra police presence has an impact on people's tendency to behave violently."
Published Thursday, January 2, 2003
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