Episode 5 Neighbourhood Blues

The friendly, caring bobby pounding the beat

has always been the hallmark of British policing...

Fantastic. Pleasure's been all mine, my friend.

..and has even been immortalised on film by the fictional

Dixon Of Dock Green.

Good evening, all.

Today's neighbourhood police teams continue that tradition,

but also tackle the root causes of crime head on,

by targeting known hot spots...

Unlucky.

..stamping down on antisocial behaviour...

I'm arresting you for a public order offence.

..and waging war on illegal drugs.

I can smell cannabis already.

In this new series of Neighbourhood Blues,

we follow the policemen and women of Somerset,

as they continue their quest to make our streets a safer place.

Coming up...

Strike, strike. Get down on the floor.

..neighbourhood police tackle the scourge of heroin...

The mind-set of these people is unbelievable.

..deal with the fallout between two warring neighbours...

And I'm going to put you in that cell in a minute,

and I'm going to leave you there until tomorrow morning.

You can tell the magistrate why you're acting like an idiot.

Let me see my mum.

..and arrest a drug user who has fallen foul...

Move away from the car.

..of his long-suffering girlfriend.

Me and you are over, Josh.

All illicit drugs are potentially dangerous,

but probably none more so than heroin.

It's highly addictive,

and has devastating psychological effects on its users,

and can completely destroy whole families.

Addicts are a major problem for the neighbourhood police,

as many of them turn to crime to fund their habit,

while others take up dealing the drugs themselves.

If you're addicted to drugs and alcohol, you have a habit to feed,

and you need to feed that. And if it's an expensive habit

and you're not employed, then, how do you fund that?

Drugs and alcohol modifies your behaviour, you don't think straight.

You commit crimes you might not ordinarily do.

It's late afternoon in Weston-super-Mare,

and the neighbourhood police team are being

briefed by an undercover intelligence officer for an

operation to take out a suspected prolific local heroin dealer.

Today's job is aimed at a well-known class A drug user.

That's the address there, and as you can see, the two porches actually...

That's the front and back doors.

Definitely those curtains are closed. So you will be able to get

down the side of the address fairly well, to be honest.

He's got a few previous possessions of class A, in '98,

2008 and 2009, possession of heroin and cocaine.

The plan is to catch the suspected dealer

with drugs in his possession when he gets back to his house.

So that's our plan today. He seems to be going up to the van with

another guy. If he comes out, we just grab hold of him outside,

and then execute the warrant at the address.

The other option is if he carries on in the vehicle,

next time he goes in the house, to go back out to the car,

we'll just go for it and strike on the car, and detain all occupants.

All right, happy? Let's get on.

The neighbourhood police are taking no chances,

and have assembled a large team for the operation,

including plain-clothed officer, Andy Vallender.

Police cameras are tracking the vehicle

the suspected drug dealer is driving.

They've followed him all the way to Bath,

where they appear to show him collecting a consignment of drugs,

and now he's on his way back to Weston.

Andy has arrived at the suspect's house.

Possibly, yeah.

The vehicle that the subject is believed to be using

has been pinged up on ANPR.

The automatic numberplate reading devices around,

and it looks like it's been to Bath or Bristol direction,

and is now on its way back.

All of a sudden, a person is spotted heading towards the house.

It's somebody the police recognise.

He's here, BLEEP.

He's big, he's a big lad.

A guy I've arrested on numerous occasions before, a very heavy

class A drug user, appears to be waiting at this location already.

Could mean that he's gone and pick up and what they call

reloaded, which would indicate the fact that we have a possible buyer

already waiting, so that could well be.

As day turns to night, Andy is still

waiting patiently for the suspected drug dealer to arrive home.

So our plan is now to watch him return to the address,

and then prior to him getting into the address,

is for myself and Mike to take him out from the vehicle to the house,

hopefully detaining him on the garden.

Finally... That car dropped somebody off.

..with night having fallen, the suspect vehicle returns,

now with three men in it.

It's now a race to get to the suspects

before they can get rid of any drugs.

It's indicated nearside now, we will park behind the van.

Now, now!

The cops rapidly converge from both ends of the street.

The chief suspect has been taken down.

Dropped it, something's in his hands. Yep. I've got him.

Get him cuffed. Put him on his front, on his front.

On his front, now! Get on your front, now!

SUSPECT MOANS

I haven't got nothing.

Stop struggling. I'm not.

Stop struggling. Stop struggling.

It's positive, it's positive.

Despite his denial,

a large amount of suspected class A drugs has been found.

I promise you! Good result.

You're under arrest, my friend... I haven't got nothing. ..on suspicion

of being in possession of a controlled substance with intent to supply. I haven't got nothing.

You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence... Some of it's gone. ..if you do not mention

when questioned something which you later rely on in court. I haven't got nothing. Anything you do say may

be... BLEEP. Do you understand? I haven't got nothing. Right.

A second man has also been safely detained on the ground, while the

third one has been arrested beside the main suspect's vehicle.

Where's your keys? I haven't got any keys, mate.

Really? What door you going in, then?

My partner's in there, I'm telling you...

The reason... In there? Yeah. Right, come here.

The police make their way to the house.

Police with a warrant.

There's nobody immediately around to welcome the visitors.

Clear.

But in the living room...

Excuse me, excuse me.

..is the suspected dealer's partner...

Sit yourself down there.

Put your hands on your knees.

..and the man who arrived earlier.

And, out of view, a seven-year-old child.

That's it, keep your hands on there for me. All right?

All right, little man? Are you happy there? I'm not handcuffing you, OK?

All I ask is that you don't make any moves. You know the score, don't you? All right.

Andy arrests the woman.

20.53 hours, I'm going to arrest you also on suspicion of conspiracy to supply class A drugs, OK.

You don't have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned

something which you later rely on in court. If you do, it may be given in evidence. The reason for your arrest

is that we need to carry out searches of this property and other areas. All right? OK. OK.

The man, when he turned up at the house,

was also seen driving whilst he was banned.

Outside, tonight's main target, the suspected drug dealer,

is getting banged up while one of his two friends is read his rights.

I'll explain the reasons. You've been... Nuh-uh. ..with these boys in that van to

collect drugs today, which we've recovered, crack and heroin. You've been involved, you know

what's going on, and for that reason, you're under arrest for conspiracy, which is an agreement

with others, the three in the van, to supply drugs. Along with BLEEP who's been arrested inside, and

along with BLEEP been arrested as well. OK, my friend? So you'll be interviewed at some point, but you

ain't going anywhere until I've seen you off to Bridgwater nick. All right? Understand all that?

So me and BLEEP are going to the same place, then? Yeah, yeah. Bridgwater, OK?

Deaths from the illegal use of drugs are at their highest

levels in England and Wales since records first began in 1983,

and by far the majority concern heroin and cocaine.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The suspected dealer and his partner have been long-time heroin addicts,

and the effects on their health are clear to be seen.

Her arm is horrendous. She's had to go to hospital,

because she has got an injection mark, and it is horrific.

Clearly infected. She may spend some time in the hospital.

That's exactly the same, he's got worms. He's got maggots or something

in his arm, he's saying. He's got things crawling in his arms.

When we were restraining him, he's screaming because he's going,

"Me arms, me arms," and he's got things crawling in there.

All suspects have been arrested,

and are on their way to custody, where they'll be

interviewed about the drugs found during tonight's warrant.

In the house, the extent of

the suspects' squalid drug life is becoming apparent.

So, going round the board, there's a couple of knives

and a razor blade, and if you can see on the end of the razor blade,

this clear brown powder all the way along the blade, and particularly

around the end. The brown powder is a clear indication to me

that that would be heroin. This cellophane wrap, to me,

is a clear block of heroin. That's got a value of about ?200 to ?300.

There are bags strewn across the floor,

filled with even more shocking things.

Syringes, used and new ones, in there too.

There's lots of wraps of clingfilm and bags, and then what we've found

inside it is a syringe with a brown liquid ready to be injected.

That's normally, I would think, heroin in there.

So, yeah, another little find.

Tonight's raid is a great chance to reassure the public

that the police are doing whatever it takes to stop illegal drugs

spreading in our neighbourhoods.

I think it sends an absolutely fantastic message out to all

the public that we will do stuff about class A drug use

and supply in Weston-super-Mare.

And also they're now going to be in custody for some time, facing plenty

of questions, and hopefully we'll get some charges at the end of it.

The drugs recovered were found to be heroin and crack cocaine,

with a street value of over ?1,000.

The police's investigation into the suspected heroin dealer

and his partner is still ongoing.

No further action was taken against the other two men

caught in the van alongside the suspect.

However, the man who was inside the house was sentenced to six months

in prison after he was found to have been driving whilst disqualified.

Shop crime is soaring, costing retailers over ?600 million a year,

and slashing shops' profits.

The majority of the estimated three million offences a year

are, of course, shoplifting, but an alarming number are cases of theft

by light-fingered store employees.

In Weston-super-Mare, neighbourhood officer Sam Walton

and her PCSO colleague have been called to a well-known

high street computer gaming shop.

I'm status six at Game on the high street,

and I've got no reception inside the store.

The only information she has is that an employee at the store

is being held in a back room on suspicion of theft. Hello.

A loss prevention investigator is here from the shop's head office.

Like a lot of places on the high street now,

this shop doesn't have any items actually out on display,

so shoplifting by customers can be virtually ruled out.

So that sets off alarm bells for us to start checking and looking

at individuals, cos there's clear ways of conducting fraud or theft.

What this pointed to was theft.

So, in other words, stock actually missing from the store.

Computer consoles, games and accessories have gone missing from

a secure storeroom, which only certain people have access to.

This has led to a particular member of staff being suspected.

This young man I've got upstairs who works for us,

he's a part-time sales assistant, and his name is Joshua.

I put it to him, "Have you removed any stock from this store

"without making payment?"

He just made a frank admission to me that he had.

He has been compliant and cooperative,

so I've explained to him he's now in our disciplinary process.

So I've formally suspended him,

and that's where it kind of concludes with us.

We want you to obviously prosecute him

because of the nature of the actual event.

It's time to go and see the young lad

and hear what he's got to say for himself.

Can you just stand up for us?

Hi, Josh. I'm PC Walton, I'm based at Weston-super-Mare police station.

This is my colleague.

Joshua has made a full and frank admission

to 121 out of 154 items he traded in for cash at Computer Exchange,

to the approximate value of ?2,943.

3,000. Sorry, ?3,493. ?3,943. That's right, yes.

Items have been stolen

and taken to a store that you can sell or pawn or exchange items.

Even though he sold the stolen items in another town, his employer's

loss prevention officer was still able to trace Joshua.

I've got contacts and colleagues who work for CEX, Computer Exchange.

To that effect, they've provided a full history of his account.

As a result of that, I arrested him on suspicion of theft.

I've got one adult male in custody.

Can I have transport from Regent Street, please?

The lad has only just turned 19,

and has never been in trouble with the police before.

If you pop yourself in there for me.

The approximately ?4,000 worth of items so far accounted for

is nowhere the total the store fear has been stolen.

So while the lad is taken to the police station,

more neighbourhood officers are making their way to his house

to search it for any more stolen goods.

Sergeant Mark Jenkinson has the tricky task of telling

the young man's parents what their son has been caught doing.

Sorry to bother you. It's OK.

We've got Joshua in custody. Yeah, I've just heard. Come in.

Is that OK?

Basically, he's been stealing things from his employer.

OK. He has? Yeah.

Has he admitted it? Yes. Yes.

There's an indication that there's property from the store

here as well. That's why we're here. Right, OK. OK.

And we've been granted power from our duty inspector

in order to search this premises, OK?

The news is every parent's worst nightmare.

The cops soon find some damning evidence - the lad's bank statements

which appear to corroborate his wrongdoing.

If you look on the statement,

he's got a cash deposit in Taunton of ?200,

which would coincide with the dates that we're looking at

in relation to the thefts from Weston.

In the bedroom, it's an Aladdin's Cave of stolen computer items.

These are all brand-new, unopened, untouched.

Along with those sold at CEX and another pawn shop,

the total value of all the stolen goods is approximately ?10,000.

Brand-new, sealed.

That'll be expensive. Wrapper's not even taken off.

Joshua's been pretty prolific for a part-timer.

We've got several games that we think were stolen.

Everything we've taken relates to gaming, games consoles,

and property that we think was taken from the store.

A lot of people might pinch the odd pen,

or even a ream of paper from their employer,

but what this lad has done is a whole different computer ball game.

I think, personally, that he has tried something,

got away with it on a couple of occasions and, naively,

just continued, and this has snowballed out of his control.

If the business isn't able to recover the goods or the money,

and continues to keep losing money, they'll either pass it on

to the consumer, so the prices will go up and everybody has to pay more,

or if they keep on losing money

and can't afford to carry on the business,

the business ultimately could close down.

The lad was found guilty of theft and false representation,

and given a 12-month community order,

required to do 200 hours unpaid work,

and ordered to pay compensation of ?5,500 to his former employer.

Still to come -

the law comes down hard on a lad with cannabis in the attic.

It's unusual it comes like that, but when it does, it's lovely.

And kids on an estate learn a lesson in the law.

Just calm down. You said... One at a time, one at a time.

Whether it's acts of vandalism or verbal abuse, antisocial behaviour

by nightmare neighbours wreaks havoc on a lot of people's lives.

In the worst cases, property can be damaged,

threats of violence made, and the police called in.

Disputes between neighbours can escalate to very high levels,

and so we like to get in there very early on, to put in interventions

and problem solve them before they get to those

high levels of violence or high levels of dispute.

Early intervention is what I would like to see every single time.

Here in beautiful Bath, not everybody, it seems,

loves thy neighbour.

Just round the corner there's a job, somebody's rung it in.

Some criminal damage, I think they've had their CCTV camera

ripped off, and the person thinks he might know who it is.

The people involved are no strangers to Adge Secker.

He's been trying to resolve a long- running clash between a particular

intimidating woman and other tenants in her block.

Yesterday afternoon,

she's broken the camera off this bracket here, as you can see.

I've got a photo of the actual camera,

but I need to take that, just of the bracket that it was on.

So, I'll do that.

The man whose camera was broken

has been living in fear of his neighbour.

I heard the banging...

This is yesterday? ..about 4.30. What, yesterday afternoon?

Right. Yeah.

I've stood by my front door. Yeah. On the inside? Yes. Yeah. I've been

told no confrontations... Yeah, that's fine. I don't know what she's

going to do and what she ain't going to do.

And I heard her say, "That camera can't look at me any more,

"because I've knocked it off the wall." And she laughed.

So this is a matter of criminal damage we've got here,

but there's all sorts of background stuff going on.

It's all to do with antisocial behaviour as well.

Is that the one that she's knocked off the wall, is it?

Yes. She told the neighbour that she was dusting,

which is a lie, because...

..you have got to give that a good smack to get that off the wall.

That was put in for my own safety. Yeah.

Four weeks ago, the woman was served with a community protection notice -

an order to stop her from doing particular things.

Which is - no abusing me, no verbally abusing me... Yeah.

..not using any threatening behaviour. Yeah.

Not to have any contact with me. OK.

Whatsoever. Well, yesterday...

If she's knocked that off the wall, or she's ripped it off the wall...

Yes. ..that's nothing to do with any orders from court,

that's an offence of criminal damage. That's correct. What are we going to do about that, then?

I've... Are you going to support me in a prosecution? Yes.

At the end of his tether,

the man wants an end to his prolonged nightmare.

He suffers greatly with his nerves. He has done for a long time.

But ever since...

this young lady here has been acting in an antisocial way -

that is being drunk, shouting out the window,

and everything else that goes along with it -

it just makes his situation worse for him, and completely intolerable.

Now, to me, that is the embodiment, if you like, of antisocial behaviour.

And it's selfish behaviour,

and it seriously impacts on other people's lifestyles,

and I'm not going to tolerate that at all.

With his Sergeant, Adge goes to see if the neighbour is in.

I've got my Sergeant with me. Where are you? In the front room? I'm in the lounge. OK.

Like all disputes, there are always two sides to every story.

The woman says the camera was spying on her,

and that she didn't break it. Adge has arranged for her

to come down to the police station for an interview.

The first time in a long time we've actually got a substantive

offence against her that we can progress a little bit.

So, that's what I'm going to do tomorrow.

Later...

I'm sick of this!

..Adge has his hands full as the woman refuses to play by the rules.

I have just about had enough of you

and I'm going to put you in that cell in a minute,

and I'm going to leave you there until tomorrow morning.

You can tell the magistrates why you're acting like an idiot.

Weston-super-Mare has one of the highest numbers of people

receiving benefits due to dependency on drugs in the whole of the UK.

Many of them are housed here by local authorities

because of the abundance of cheap accommodation.

But whilst this has solved one problem,

it has led to another - an influx of drug dealers looking for business.

Sergeant Colin Batchelor and his neighbourhood officers are working hard to fight the problem,

cracking down on anyone suspected of dealing drugs of any kind.

OK, mate. Yeah, soon as, mate, because obviously they're all waiting. We could do with

striking while the iron's hot, but all right, pal.

Colin's on his way to help search for a youth who's dumped

a man-bag full of drugs over a fence before scarpering from the police.

So, we're going to try as best as we can to flood the area.

He seems to have gone to ground somewhere.

Colin's heading for the Bournville Estate, where drugs are a problem.

The estate, at the moment, in terms of controlled drugs...

is an issue for us.

I hasten to add that it's a small group of individuals

that are dealing, both class A and class B drugs.

Can someone tell me what's happened? We spotted the bike that way.

So he's on a bike. Yeah. A push-bike? Yeah.

What's been retrieved?

Yes, please, mate.

The drugs in the man-bag the lad flung away are wraps of cannabis.

That's cannabis in there, is it? Yeah, it is.

The neighbourhood team have been tipped off the wanted lad

might be inside a house nearby,

and they've been allowed in to have a look for him.

Colleagues have just gone into an address here where they think this individual may be.

As you can see, we've only been here a few minutes,

and the activity of people on foot has increased already.

Oh, here we go.

A young man in the house has been arrested,

but it's not the one that did a runner earlier.

Keep pulling me around, I swear... What are you going to do?

Oh, sorry, big man(!)

This lad has only got himself to blame for being arrested,

as Colin's colleague Russ Millier explains.

Dopey... Yeah? ..invites us in to check the house... I saw that, yeah.

We do a check of the loft,

girlfriend opens up the loft, and a carrier bag falls out.

He grabs that, tries to go into a room with it.

I follow him into the room and say, "Give me that carrier bag."

He went, "Why?"

I said, "Is it yours?" He said, "Yeah, it's mine."

Open it up - it's full of cannabis, scales, the lot. A whole bag full of it.

Despite the original suspect who discarded the man-bag getting away,

finding another haul of drugs in an attic makes it still

a rather good day's work for the team.

It's unusual it comes like that, but when it does, it's lovely.

He's got everything there in the bag, the whole makings - the

tinfoil wraps, the cannabis, the cannabis wrapped up and the scales.

And a very unhappy face to go with it.

The police have a good idea who the lad with the man-bag was -

a 17-year-old that they're confident of catching up with very soon.

We know who we're after.

We've got the evidence that the individual has dropped.

So, we'll go and pick him up at our leisure.

He won't know when we're coming, so he can wait for a little bit,

and we'll do it at our time.

The suspect's mother has turned up.

She's distraught and, not wanting to be on camera, can't be seen while she talks to Colin.

SHE SOBS

Listen to me...

You can see her through the window.

Look, my mum is crying! Mum! Mum!

The arrested lad's mother isn't the only woman in his life he's upsetting.

Stay away from him! Thanks a lot(!) Thanks a lot(!)

Go away.

Let me talk to... Mum! Mum!

Me and you are over. Can I just speak to him quickly?

No, you can't speak to him. Open the window! Move away from the car.

Me and you are over, Josh.

The young man is arrested for possession of cannabis,

and is being taken into custody.

The drugs were found in the attic of his girlfriend's house,

where the lad had been staying.

Officers are now going to carry out a full search of the place,

but Colin's got a problem.

All right, stop the language. You're already up to your neck in it, all right?

BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP!

And he's not standing for it.

Oh, here we go. He thinks he's bad. You can come in.

You can both just get the BLEEP off me, now! No. OK, let's go.

Oh, my God, see what I mean? I'm arresting you for a public order offence, all right?

So you can sit... BLEEP. There's no need for that at all.

So, you understand why you're under arrest, yeah? You're under arrest for a public order offence.

You can sit there and I'll take you down to custody, all right?

Apart from the bag of cannabis, no other drugs were up in the loft,

but elsewhere, there is plenty more evidence of cannabis use.

DOG BARKS

So, a sniffer dog is brought in to help do a thorough

search of the rest of the house.

You can hear his nose going all the time and, afterwards, if you touch

his nose, it'll be very hot because there's so much air going through.

It's not long before Rufus shows just how hot his nose is.

More cannabis.

Well done, pups. Well done.

A growing number of cannabis finds on the estate recently

have been on teenagers, in their fashionable man-bags.

This is what's locally known on the estate as a man-bag.

It's, uh... It's very nice.

In fact, it is used by numerous individuals on the estate

for the concealment and transporting of drugs.

The difficulty is that it's generally done on bike.

This one in particular we've found upstairs absolutely

stinks of cannabis and, in fact, belongs to the individual

that we've arrested not long ago.

So, these, unfortunately, are my scourge of the estate at the minute.

So, say no to man-bags.

The lad who obligingly let the police in to search his house

was charged with possession of the cannabis they discovered

in the loft, and was fined ?145 and given a 12-month community order.

No further action was taken against his EX-girlfriend.

The suspect who got away on his bike was caught a few days later.

However, as there wasn't conclusive evidence to prove the man-bag

or the cannabis in it was his, the case was dismissed.

Earlier in Bath, we saw Adge Secker dealing with a nightmare neighbour.

So, that's an offence of criminal damage.

Are you going to support me in a prosecution? Yes.

OK, all right, let me go and see her, then,

and we'll arrange for me to interview her there, OK?

I need you to come down to the police station.

I'll be here at nine o'clock tomorrow morning, OK?

A day later, Adge is back, as promised, along with a PCSO

to take the woman to the police station.

It's Kim. Come on.

Wakey-wakey.

You arranged... You've got to come and speak to PC Secker, haven't you,

today? Whatever's been done, I didn't do. So, no.

Yeah, but you need to come talk about it, don't you? Come on.

Let's get a little bit organised.

No. I'm tired. You can't ignore this.

We've got to go and have a talk about it.

Somebody else done it, not me.

Are you going to come with me voluntarily, or not?

Are you?

I'll give you five minutes.

At the police station, Adge conducts an on-the-record interview

with the woman, before deciding what action to take against her.

OK. So, what happened yesterday then, in the communal area of your flat, with Derek?

I put a hat over the camera.

And then I fell off the chair, and the camera sort of slipped,

but it didn't come off.

OK. But you said you put the hat over and... No.

I was trying to put the hat over...

..you slipped... Oh, do you know what? I've had enough of this.

Just stay there.

No, don't arrest me, because I'm not lying.

As I've said to you before, quite clearly, if you don't answer

these questions, I may have to arrest you. No. What's the point?

You're accusing me of lying about something I haven't even done.

I tried to put a hat over the camera to...stop invading my privacy!

And...I fell!

So what? I didn't break the camera. OK.

Just listen to me a minute, OK?

Because you're the one that's going at 35,000 feet very quickly, not me.

And I'm trying to establish what happened. I just want to go to bed.

You can go to bed when I've finished with you.

Adge has got some surprise news for the woman about the camera she damaged.

It's a dummy camera.

What's that mean? It's not a camera.

Why is it...? Why does he have it there, then?

It's a preventative measure.

Yeah, I accidentally broke the camera,

but it was a lightning storm and...

Can I go now? Cos I really need a fag. No, just wait!

SHE GROANS

OK, so the time is now 10.15 am.

And this interview has now concluded.

Now she has admitted causing criminal damage to the

dummy camera, Adge is going to give the woman a police caution.

It's a way of dealing with a minor crime without having to go to court.

Come down with me, then.

This job is more about...

A lot more about than a little bit of criminal damage.

It stretches back two years of behaviour by that lady there,

which has caused untold misery to a number of residents

and neighbours along her street.

So, are you happy to receive the caution?

I ain't got much choice, have I?

Well, the other option is you go to court.

Right, the offence is criminal damage...

She's been given a police caution, which is

a positive way of us disposing of matters.

Can you sign on there and say you accept the caution, please?

Now, some people might look at that and think she's gotten off with it.

That's certainly not the case.

A caution is definitely on your record,

and it's a way of us disposing of things in a more appropriate way.

All of a sudden,

the woman's had enough of behaving in an appropriate way.

I'm sick of this!

Why don't you just do as you're told for a change?

Come and wait here, because the sergeant's got to give you something. Come and stand here.

Why have I got to stand there? He's got to give you something.

He hasn't got long enough arms to give it to you from over there.

Her behaviour is so erratic, and it's all to do with alcohol.

I have just about had enough of you

and I'm going to put you in that cell in a minute,

and I'm going to leave you there until tomorrow morning.

You can tell the magistrates why you're acting like an idiot.

Behave yourself! Behave! Right? Behave!

This is the last time I speak to you about this.

Next time, I'll put you in the cell.

She used to be a nurse. She plays the flute, she plays the piano.

She comes from a lovely family.

Antisocial behaviour, it just blights people's lives,

and nobody else can deal with it except for us,

and that's what we've done today.

PCSOs play a vital role in the neighbourhood police team.

Hello! Good morning!

Unlike PCs, they're able to devote far more of their time

focusing on building relationships...

Nice to meet you, yeah? Yeah, you too.

..and gaining the respect of local residents, young and old.

Police Community Support Officers, they're great. They make up about

half of our neighbourhood team in North Somerset and in Weston.

They are the eyes and ears of the organisation in terms of being

in touch with the community. They go out there,

they attend community events...

SIREN WAILS Whoa.

..they support local community groups...

I'll go and get the details and I'll contact the council.

They'll deal with some of the issues that police officers haven't got time to do.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Bye. Bye.

Having a passion for helping people, like PCSO Laura Bray does,

is essential.

We have a meeting at one o'clock. With? With Angela. Oh, right, OK.

It's the Woolavington meeting. Oh, right. OK.

Woolavington, just outside Bridgwater,

has a large housing estate, where Laura's efforts organising

community projects for young people haven't gone unnoticed.

She's worked absolutely tirelessly, and there have been times, I think,

when she's felt that it's been a real uphill struggle.

It's her energy and her kind of vision from her real love

of that community that has inspired me and has made me really think,

"Yeah. You know, we CAN make a difference there."

Laura's plans include a disco for the younger residents.

LAUGHTER

Yay! We're all going to the disco!

It's been a while since I've been to a disco.

Yeah, see you at the disco.

As well as coordinating community events, Laura's always

available to sort out antisocial behaviour problems on the estate.

Today, someone's called in complaining about some graffiti.

Some kids have got some aerosol cans

and they've been spraying the fence in the park.

So, they've obviously graffitied it, damaged it, etc.

Laura's beat manager on the estate is Jim Murray,

who's already here, trying to get to the bottom of what's gone on.

Apparently they had hold of the cans and they were giving them to a girl,

and she was spraying the wall. Is that right? Yep.

Where is she now?

There she is.

You sprayed a small blue line. Yeah, that's it. A small blue line.

You sprayed the "Laugh Out Loud", he sprayed the grass.

And the wall. Just the wall.

Oh, so you sprayed the wall, you sprayed the fence,

and you did some spraying on the fence.

So, all three of you have done something, haven't you? Right.

I did a tiny bit.

It's the school holidays, and the kids are bored.

If we can get it off and it's not permanently damaging anything,

then we haven't really got a crime as such -

it's more antisocial behaviour.

But we obviously need to speak to parents.

First up, Laura visits the home

of two of the boys she's just spoken to.

Hello.

We've, erm... The boys have been spray-painting.

I spray-painted grass. That's not the point.

No, hang on, it's not just grass.

It's a fence, with an aerosol of some description.

We're waiting to return with a bucket of water.

Right. To clean it up.

Yeah. No worries.

Thank you. Bye.

Now for the girl's mum.

Hello. Hello. Hello, how are you? Yeah, I'm fine, thanks.

Has she told you? Yeah. We need to try and get it off.

It really wouldn't... Well, you need to come and help get it off,

because you put it on there, you can come and help get it off.

It's important for the neighbourhood police to get involved in what

may be minor acts of misbehaviour, if only to help teach

youngsters the difference between right and wrong at an early age.

And now I get to spend all afternoon...

making sure that they can try and get the paint off.

Except I don't imagine that will happen.

But it will need a fair bit of elbow grease.

It doesn't particularly look to me like it's coming off. So, erm...

There's only one thing for it.

I think the twins' dad is going to get some paint,

and I think we're going to try and repaint it.

The quickest and easiest solution.

Laura's way with the youngsters

has impressed the residents on the estate.

With the hard work

and the continuous work with our PCSO, Laura Bray...

Laura Bray. Yay, Laura!

..she has pulled miracles.

Just calm down a second. CHILDREN ALL SPEAK AT ONCE

One at a time. One at a time!

No, hang on.

She's a star. An absolute star. Yep.

She deserves a...big medal. She really does.

Say cheese to the camera, Laura.

It's all in a day's work for this committed PCSO.

As we've just seen, neighbourhood policing is far from being

only about crime-fighting. Neighbourhood officers are there

to engage with the public and gain their confidence,

ensuring the police service as a whole benefits in the long run.

Until next time,

evening, all.

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