Episode 4 Neighbourhood Blues

The friendly, caring bobby pounding the beat

has always been the hallmark of British policing.

Fantastic. The pleasure's been all mine, my friend.

And has even been immortalised on film by the fictional Dixon of Dock Green.

Good evening, all.

SIRENS WAIL

Today's neighbourhood police teams continue that tradition,

but also tackle the root causes of crime head-on...

by targeting known hotspots...

Unlucky.

..stamping down on anti-social 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 -

the clock is ticking for a suspected drink-driver.

This is your last chance now, Paul, all right? You're running out of time.

A group of unruly teenagers cause disruption on the streets.

She raised up her arm,

fist clenched, and brought it back down on top of the mirror.

And hunting down crack cocaine and knives in the dead of night.

Big-ups, yeah. Big-ups.

The message that drinking and driving wrecks lives is one that's

been hammered home for years.

Yet it seems a lot of people are still ignoring it.

Every year in England and Wales,

70,000 people are caught drink-driving.

Tonight, Jim Murray is on his way to a village halfway between Bridgwater

and Weston-Super-Mare.

He's on his way to help another neighbourhood officer arrest a van driver

suspected of drink-driving.

So, I'm just going to pop over there, drop him off a breath box,

see if I can be of any assistance.

If he arrests him, obviously he's going to need another officer to

transport him back to the custody unit.

The suspect is alleged to have been involved in a fight in a pub before

leaving in his van.

Moments later, he was pulled over by neighbourhood officer Dave Allen.

I've seen him drive... Yeah. ..into the close, he parked his van up,

obviously got out the driver's side.

Smells of intoxicants.

Yeah, no worries.

Jim's first task is to breathalyse the suspect.

Just place your mouth around the mouthpiece,

take a nice deep breath and blow in it until I tell you to stop, OK?

It's going to take all the air out your lungs, all right?

Nice deep breath. Paul, all right, if you do fail to provide,

that's an offence in itself, OK? And you'll be arrested, all right? So it is in your interests...

Let me hold it, just blow, Paul, go on. Sort it out.

Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going...

It says it's got enough.

All right? And what it'll do, it'll tell me on the screen whether it

thinks you're over or under, all right?

Moments later, the device shows a reading of 72.

He's well over the legal limit to drive.

OK, Paul, you failed the roadside breath test, OK?

So as a result of that, I'm arresting you on suspicion of drink-driving.

Jim locks up the man's van before he takes him to the police station to be

put on another specially calibrated breathalyser machine.

72 is twice the legal drink-drive limit,

but that's only a roadside breath test, it's not evidential,

so what we're going to do is, we'll have to take him back to the station,

and put him on an evidential breath test to find out exactly how much alcohol he does have in his breath.

Dave is thankful for Jim's support.

Arresting anybody suspected of being drunk can be a risky business.

People, especially when they're intoxicated, can be unpredictable.

So, yeah, it's safety in numbers really.

He clearly didn't like the fact that I'd stopped him.

Initially, yeah, he was quite uncooperative.

He wouldn't give me his details.

And now, obviously, we know why potentially he was being a bit uncooperative, because he failed.

It's a 25-minute drive to the police station.

All the while, the man's alcohol level in his body is falling,

or so he believes.

Before being tested again, the suspected drink-driver is booked in.

His details and all the information about the offence are taken.

Time of your arrest, please.

Um, 20... Sorry, 19... 2100 hours. Right.

But there's already a problem.

It's 2025 now.

Well, he said 2100, didn't he?

So that's what you've got to put down, please, 2100.

I put down what I put down. It was just before, but...

You're taking the BLEEP now.

I'm not, cos I can see what the time is up there.

Well, you can see what the time is up there, but you put the time down wrong, first, didn't you?

Doesn't matter, does it? People make mistakes when they say things,

it's not a big issue.

The man is beginning to grasp at any straw in the hope of finding a

defence to avoid his drink-driving rap.

So you arrested me at nine o'clock... No, I didn't. ..and you're saying half eight now.

That's what you said on there. Yeah, I did say that initially. Yeah. I'll tell you why.

As you can see, my clock is showing the wrong time. Yeah, well, that's your problem, not mine.

The man's ear is a mess,

but it's not his hearing that's preventing him answering the custody sergeant's questions.

You're going to have to wait half an hour to ask me the questions,

cos he arrested me at nine o'clock, and it's only half eight now.

If you wait half an hour, I'll answer the questions, after nine o'clock.

After nine o'clock I will, cos that was the time I was arrested.

Keep your hands out of your pockets for me. Oh, right, I'm in jail, am I?

No, you're in custody. I'm in custody, right.

So I haven't been convicted or nothing? Not yet. No.

If he is convicted, the man could end up in jail.

As well as an obligatory driving ban,

drink-driving carries up to a six-month prison sentence.

If he's telling lies, saying that I was arrested...

He made a simple mistake, didn't he, Paul? You said I was arrested at BLEEP nine...

Listen to me, all right? You're getting completely sidetracked on something which is not relevant.

Listen to me. I asked the officer what time he arrested you.

The officer made a mistake and said nine o'clock, which I queried, and it was at eight o'clock.

There's no big issue.

There's not an issue.

You're conspiring against me. No, we're not.

The matter of what time you were arrested is irrelevant.

What you blow on our breath test machine is relevant.

I think he's obviously worried that he's going to be over the limit,

so he's trying everything he can to try and get off the charge, I suppose.

He's also going on the fact about this nine o'clock arrest

business, trying to muddy the waters,

and saying he wants to speak to his solicitor about it before he gives a

breath test and all the rest of it.

He's trying all the delay tactics, basically.

The breath test machine is called an Intoxilyzer

and requires two specimens of the man's breath.

But first, Jim has to go through a set of questions which are an important

part of the procedure.

OK, Paul, have you in the last 20 minutes consumed any alcohol?

Um...

I have, yeah. You have? What have you consumed?

The last 20 minutes, mind.

Yeah. All right, you were arrested 50 minutes ago.

Yeah. All right, so in the last 20 minutes, have you consumed any alcohol?

I have, yeah. What have you consumed?

I've consumed some brandy.

So, somehow, the man reckons he's drunk some brandy in the last 20 minutes,

despite being stuck in the police station.

Find out later if his delaying tactics pay off.

See, see... Sorry. Have a seat, Paul. Have a seat.

Whether it's users robbing their dealers,

or turf wars between rival drug gangs,

violence tends to go hand-in-hand with drug dealing.

Without the law to turn to,

violence is often the only way to settle disputes.

In Weston-Super-Mare,

a recent spike in knife crime figures is believed to be related to

the town's illegal drugs trade.

Weston-Super-Mare has its challenges.

It can encourage visitors into the town who aren't here to live and who

don't care about the community,

so they might try and cause us harm.

So they're the ones we try and tackle.

People that are coming in and causing any of the communities harm

in relation to drug dealing, violent crime, anything like that,

then we'll look to take them out nice and early.

It's ten o'clock.

SIRENS BLARE

And a report has come in of a fight between some youths with knives.

Two of them have been seen entering an address in a residential street

near the town centre.

Yeah, I don't think we're going in the address.

Extraordinarily, it's the same address that's been targeted for a

late-night drugs raid this very evening.

Yes, Sarge, erm...

All right, I'll see what I can do.

It's a very delicate situation for neighbourhood officer John Phippen

and PCSO Justin Robbie.

They have to respond to the reports of the knife fight,

yet they don't want to compromise the drug raid planned for later on.

What, top floor one?

They've decided to go in.

But there's another complication.

A group of people in a nearby alleyway.

Keep an eye on what's going on there for me, bud.

None of them match the description, do they?

DOOR OPENS

Yeah, we've got an open door.

John's found the front door is open,

but with reports that the men were armed with knives,

rather than go in on his own, he waits for backup.

Which quickly arrives in the shape of the Sergeant Mark Jenkinson.

Justin's seen someone looking out the window and ducking,

so what do you want to do?

My concern is that someone might be seriously injured,

bearing in mind it's knives that are involved.

There isn't any blood, however, based on what we've got,

we're going to basically enter the address to preserve life.

The officers are armed with Taser stun guns.

KNOCKS ON DOOR

It's the police, mate. Open the door.

Put your hands where I can see them, bud.

We've had a report of people in the street fighting with knives, mate.

Who else is here, mate?

Do you mind if we pop in and check the other person? Thanks, mate.

The flat is up a flight of stairs.

Were you two fighting in the street, or getting loud with each other?

No, why? Well, people matching your description have been...

No-one in the flat is admitting anything to do with the trouble earlier.

3892, control.

Can I have two persons' checks, please?

So you guys haven't got any injuries at all, then?

That is the worry, it is that when we get a report,

despite whatever history you've got with the police,

if we've got two people fighting in the street,

with big knives, we need to make sure that everyone's all right. I know, I mean...

John and the Sarge are taking a softly, softly approach so as not to

arouse any suspicions that the police's real focus later tonight is drugs.

The two lads in the flat have been checked.

One of them is a prolific local criminal...

You've had your, sort of, fill of knives, haven't you?

I know, I know. The scars would suggest...

..who's been involved with drugs and knives before,

including having his forearm and voice box slashed.

Big-up.

Ba-ba.

Golly.

Loving life, big time.

Bring a man down.

What was that?

That's down low, down low.

Oh, right, OK. Is that like gang speak? CAT MEOWS

Mind the cat, mind the cat!

With your gangster style.

Mind the cat.

Right, if you're happy, gone.

If it was you two, don't be so stupid, yeah?

See you, mate.

The cops are on the retreat.

Everyone's happy the visit passed without incident,

and hopefully without suspicion being raised about tonight's raid.

Both males have denied having been in the street,

and this story is supported by the one's father,

and hopefully that'll be the end of it.

Obviously we treat these calls very seriously,

particularly in light of the summer that we've had in Weston.

We had a lot of stabbings, drug-related.

So, you know, on another day, this could have been a lot worse.

Less than an hour later,

the neighbourhood officers are being briefed for the drugs raid alongside

the catch team - the people who actually do the dirty work of bashing down doors...

Police!

..and catching the suspected criminals.

The objective is always to get in as quickly as possible,

because when we're dealing with drugs, small amounts can be flushed down toilets or, you know,

got rid of, so we need to get in nice and quickly, and as quietly, believe it or not, as possible.

It's a residential area,

which is causing significant issues to the community.

There's a number of complaints constantly about the constant visitors and the violence.

And in relation to the violence, last night, we were called to that location because of people

fighting with bricks, and tonight, we've been called to two people outside fighting with knives.

So, it clearly is right, the intelligence, and that's why we're doing the warrant today.

Later, we see what happens when the police turn up at the suspected drug

dealer's flat for the second time tonight.

In Britain, there are more than 5,000 accidents every year in which someone

is killed or injured that involve a driver who's over the limit.

Some can have devastating effects on the victims and their families,

but they can also change the lives of those selfish or stupid enough to

drive when they're not fit to do so.

Earlier, a van driver was about to be put on an evidential breath test

machine to find out if he was drinking and driving.

He's now ready to blow a sample, and the machine is made ready for him.

MACHINE BEEPS

OK, it's a key mouthpiece.

OK, what I'm going to do is, I'm going to stick that onto the machine here.

The machine requires two samples of breath.

The one with the lower reading will be taken as evidence.

Failure to provide the samples is an offence.

You must provide a specimen within three minutes.

Paul, when I tell you to do so, I want you to relax.

OK. Take a deep breath, and place the mouthpiece in your mouth.

I can't see it, because I'm being filmed, and I'm not...

Make a good seal around it with your lips.

Take a nice deep breath, as deep as you can, and blow out, all right?

You're not blowing, Paul. Paul? Paul, listen to me. Paul.

You're not blowing. I am blowing. All right, take your hand away, move your hand down.

Put your mouth on there, all right? And blow nice and hard until I tell you to stop.

Blow. You've got to blow harder than that, Paul. Harder than that.

Harder than that. Paul, listen to me. Listen to me. Paul,

you're failing to provide at the moment, OK? I'm not. I am blowing as hard as I can...

You're not blowing as hard as you can. I am. No, you're not, I can see you're not, all right?

Right, have another go.

Nice deep breath, OK?

Take your hand away from there, that's it. Now blow out, nice and hard.

That's it, keep going. You've stopped again, Paul. I haven't stopped.

You have. What you've done is you've breathed in, all right?

What you've done is you've gone... A little tiny soft blow and then you've stopped, all right? Have I?

Yeah, that's what it's telling me. This is your last chance now, Paul, all right?

You're running out of time.

All right, you've got to be quick. Yeah. You've got 15 seconds left, go.

Blow. Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going.

You've stopped again, Paul. Paul, you stopped again.

Unfortunately, that's out of time now, I'm afraid, Paul.

All right.

So, you've failed the procedure, Paul.

Blowing into the machine isn't difficult.

Even for people with respiratory problems like asthma,

which the man, all of a sudden, claims he has.

Are there any medical or other reasons why you have not provided two specimens of breath?

Apart from being an asthmatic, then,

that's the only reason why it shouldn't have gone through.

It's not uncommon when we do arrest people for drink-driving for them to be a bit difficult in custody,

and try and come up with some excuses as to why they can't provide.

See, see, have a seat, Paul. Have a seat.

He was something else, to be honest. I've never known anyone quite as awkward as him.

We'll just have to see what's next.

Because he's been unable to give a breath specimen, because he has asthma, he says,

the man is being given a second chance.

He's provided a specimen at the roadside perfectly OK.

He's claiming he's asthmatic,

so just to negate that, we're going to go for the option of blood instead.

If he fails, or refuses this time,

he'll be charged with failing to supply a sample.

Do you now consent to provide a specimen of blood, now,

which will be taken by the health care professional?

Paul, you don't have options.

It's either a yes, you will provide a specimen, or no, you won't.

After a lot of toing and froing, he did say he would provide,

albeit reluctantly. He wanted to take the blood himself and not let the nurse take the blood.

Yeah.

And you're able to give a specimen...

The amount of blood the nurse was able to take was insufficient for an

evidential sample.

The man's led to a cell where he'll stay until the custody sergeant

decides he's sobered up enough to be released.

He was offering up every possible excuse that he could

to try and get away with the offence,

failing to provide a sample of blood by moving his arm around, so that

the nurse couldn't take a sufficient sample.

Failure to provide is an offence,

which carries an automatic driving ban of at least 12 months and a large fine.

It's often dealt with by the court even more severely than

drink-driving itself.

When he appeared in court,

the man was found not to be suffering from any medical conditions.

He was found guilty of failing to provide

and he was handed a 36-month driving ban.

He was also found guilty of assault in the pub earlier that night.

He was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and given a six-month restraining order.

For Dave, he's an hour, at least, nearer the end of his shift.

So, tell me, Dave, why did your watch say...? I've got no idea!

What does it say now?

It now says ten o'clock. Now says 20 past ten. 20 past ten.

A recent spate of incidents involving knives has been worrying

the residents of Weston-Super-Mare.

Earlier...

we saw how the neighbourhood police have stepped up their

response to those concerns and are now preparing to raid a flat where they

suspect drugs and weapons might be found.

And when the guys have gone today to this disorder,

there's a group of six people waiting in this alleyway.

As soon as the police arrived, they've dispersed.

So we can only suggest that they're waiting to get drugs.

Unusually for this kind of operation, it's taking place at night.

The idea is that they will be able to approach the property without being seen

and before any drugs get flushed down the toilet.

We're just going to hang on this alleyway here.

It's essential they're not spotted outside...

Turn this off. ..and all lights are out.

Like this.

It'll be down to the catch team to gain entry to the flat,

with the neighbourhood officers following quickly behind them.

The order to strike is given.

Police!

The team are taking no chances and are armed with Taser stun guns.

My Taser is drawn, guys, yeah?

This time you're all nicked.

You're all under arrest at the moment, all right, for possession and intent to supply.

The timing couldn't have been better.

The unsuspecting occupants are in the process of packaging some drugs.

One of the catch team spotted drugs being thrown out of an open window

as the team burst in.

He threw it out the window, I saw him as I came in the room.

Yeah, fine. Grey tracksuit, stand up.

I can't even get up. You can.

Stand still.

Looking around the room, there are more signs

that the neighbourhood team have arrived in the nick of time.

This cannabis is being prepared for sale.

And it's not only cannabis that's turning up.

A quantity of what looks to be cocaine is found on this lad.

HE WHISTLES

Proper opo today, isn't it?

Say it again? Proper opo, operation.

Did you enjoy that? Yeah, I did, mate.

Yeah, that was nice running, mate, got me...

Yeah, same, mate, I thought, "Whoa!"

See this guy come in with his BLEEP things, mate.

"What's going on?"

Coming through with his BLEEP riot shields and that.

This guy has got a Taser. Whoa!

HE LAUGHS

The two lads are being transferred to the local police station for questioning.

Meanwhile, where the drugs were seen thrown through an open window,

a search is going on outside to retrieve them.

Mark is on the case.

Here we are, look.

What we think's happened is, because the window's open at such an angle,

as he's panicked and launched it out, it's actually hit the window itself,

and a lot of the drugs have broken and separated.

So we're trying to work our way around to pick up all the pieces,

as it were.

That's another bit there, yeah.

Mark's also found something in wraps of silver foil that's even more alarming.

Highly potent crack cocaine.

It looks like it's crack cocaine,

which is a particularly addictive drug that we're doing the utmost to tackle.

The residents tell us about it and we're here to act on it.

It's rare that we do a warrant at this time of night,

but it proves that it was the right decision.

Crack is a solid form of cocaine which can be smoked for an instant hit

and it doesn't take much of it.

Very, very small amounts of drugs are worth a lot of money.

And what we've recovered there will create a massive dent in their business.

It will put them out of business, if you like.

It'll stop them dealing from this address

and it'll have such a positive impact on the local residents and the community as a whole.

Back in the flat, the others that were here when the police called the first time this

evening are also under arrest and waiting for transport to the nick.

Round two, they got me again! BLEEP

Here we go, off to the big house.

I'm getting arrested. Same!

MOBILE PHONE RINGS

After the police's cursory search of the place,

a drugs dog is going to find anything they might have missed.

He soon finds a bit of crack in some cracks.

Inside, the flat is an Aladdin's cave of stuff related to substance abuse.

Numerous pieces of silver foil ripped on the bed.

Scales and green vegetable matter.

And already behind bars, a colourful parrot.

They've come for drugs, man.

There ain't no drugs here, are you mad, bud?

Know what I mean? This is a homely home.

Big up shabs. Big up the rest. Big up vibes.

They busted my door down, though.

Drugs are being found everywhere.

There are about 20 10lb bags in the cabinet under the TV.

And more on the floor, behind the TV.

Behind the telly is handfuls of green vegetable matter.

The police have had to collate lots of evidence to persuade a magistrate

to issue today's search warrant.

Much of it has come from the concerned neighbours who have complained

about what's been going on.

They've seen first-hand the deals being done outside the flat.

Some of the suspected proceeds have been found behind the bed one of the lads was on.

Approximately ?395 in cash. Erm...

The lad who's been arrested, who was laying there, is only sort of 16.

So, rather a lot of cash for a 16-year-old person to have in his pocket.

After the drugs, the weapons.

There are numerous fearsome-looking knives.

Seized a lock knife, which is illegal in itself.

It's an offensive weapon. Got a kitchen knife and

this little beauty under the...

Tucked under the table.

We come in very dynamically, kick the doors down, straight in,

lots of shouting and screaming and this is the reason why.

Sharp knives, so, that's the reason why we're coming in hard and fast.

Ba, ba, ba!

The van has returned to transport the remaining three prisoners to the police station.

But the neighbourhood team's work isn't over yet.

Find out what happens later when they pay a third visit to the address and

uncover another stash of potentially deadly weapons.

Kids on the rampage, causing criminal damage

and vandalising local neighbourhoods have a huge impact on the quality of people's lives.

And if not dealt with quickly and effectively,

it can lead to people permanently living in fear of crime.

Cracking down on those youngsters responsible for causing such misery

is a major priority for the neighbourhood police.

If there is one thing worse than bored teenagers looking for something to do,

it's a gang of bored teenagers looking for trouble.

It is an ongoing problem, really, where the kids are out,

they're not supervised.

They don't seem to have a respect for people or property and we need

to try and nip it in the bud and change their behaviour,

before we start dealing with them criminally,

and get them on the right road, really, get them on the right path.

In Bath, four parked cars have been damaged right outside their owners' houses.

They've all had their wing mirrors ripped off in a mindless act of vandalism.

We believe it's a local group living just across the back of

these houses really, that we've had quite a lot of involvement with.

So we've got a good idea of who it is, yeah.

Neighbourhood officer Mark Hodder has come to see some of the victims.

So, just from the start, then.

As I looked out the window, I just noticed some children going past.

I noticed a girl in a grey top or hoodie, raised up her arm,

fist clenched, and brought it back down on top of the mirror.

I was stood sort of here like that, like this.

I just looked out as she done it.

Unusually, it was a group of girls responsible for the mayhem.

When we they done it, they ran off and they joined up with some boys on the other side. Right.

So, when you saw the girl hit the wing mirror... Yeah.

..can you describe her to me?

She's sort of short, like, darkish hair, I think.

13, 14, maybe. Yeah? Yeah.

The average age of people who commit criminal damage is only 14 to 15,

far younger than most other crimes.

And in both males and females, the habit declines after that age.

Not that that fact is of any comfort to this car owner.

I'll go get me phone and we'll take a picture of it.

Yeah, OK. Good. Mark is getting photographic evidence of the damage,

which was clearly done maliciously.

I seen her...

Like that.

Malicious damage is often an expression of frustration,

directed at middle-class property, which people find so hard to understand.

It's just mindless damage, with kids just out at night,

just getting up to misbehaviour, really.

Mark goes to see another victim of the unruly girls -

a woman whose week-old company Audi has also been de-wing-mirrored.

Her partner heard what happened and on seeing the damage, chased after them.

We were speaking to them for a while, just trying to understand really, why you'd do it...

Yeah. Obviously, it wasn't that...

You can just kind of see.

A little later, after returning home,

the group of girls came back past and he did his best to get some pictures to identify them.

I think they realised at that stage, they were kind of hiding their faces, showing their backs and

dancing down the road as if they kind of knew we were trying to take pictures of them.

They were, like, waving their arms and cheering.

"Yeah!" And, like, really happy with what they'd done.

I was just stood there, like, "How pointless is that?"

Well, you did the right thing, call the police.

Yeah, don't really get into any sort of argument with them, no.

Especially when they're in a group like that, yeah?

That kind of damage, that's just petty and stupid, isn't it?

They've just got no respect at all.

They just haven't learned what respect is and how to behave.

But it's only little stuff, like, I don't know, the financial cost as well,

cos then if someone obviously gets their wing mirror knocked off,

you've got to go and pay for it to get fixed and

it just doesn't go through their minds that these kind of actions have effects on other people.

The broken wing mirrors aren't the only incident of antisocial behaviour in the area.

And they are having a cumulative effect on the residents.

Personally, it's more about feeling safe in my own home and having two

children living here and seeing that there's children out there

with such little respect in the area,

causing this kind of damage to things, you know, breaking into my garden,

which is meant to be my safe haven.

It's made me feel quite vulnerable.

I mean, you know, we're working with the school, all the sort of local youth projects, the parents.

Doing all we can with them, really, but...

And they get together in a gang and that's when their behaviour just... They just egg each other on.

Thanks to the photos and descriptions of the offenders,

Mark was able to identify the two ring leaders.

One of the vehicles, a very expensive vehicle,

it's cost a lot of money to repair, so, yeah,

we can't just let it go with a telling off.

They need to know it's wrong.

They need to know the sort of consequences of their actions really.

The option that we're looking at really, for this sort of damage would be we refer

them to a youth panel,

where they can look at the whole circumstances of the young person

and their background and see what intervention needs to be put in to change the behaviour.

In the end, both girls were issued with youth cautions,

as well as being referred to the youth offending team and happily,

antisocial behaviour in the area is no longer the problem it was.

Eradicating illegal drugs is proving to be a never-ending task for the police.

A recent crackdown in Weston-Super-Mare, involving a series of high-profile raids,

has shown many of the people they've arrested all too quickly

bounce back into business.

Earlier, we saw the neighbourhood team raid an address where a large

amount of cannabis and crack cocaine was seized.

Some of the occupants were charged with dealing Class A drugs.

Round two, they got me again!

It's round three for tonight's team,

who are preparing to pay another visit to the very same address.

Tonight, we are going to execute a Misuse of Drugs Act warrant at an

address not too far away from the station.

It's an address we've previously executed a warrant at.

We arrested six individuals.

However, literally, that was on the Wednesday, by Friday, we got intelligence they were back at it.

Just as concerning as the crack cocaine,

the discovery of a number of offensive weapons.

Last week, a couple of guys went into this address to buy crack cocaine heroin.

One of the guys was shot in the hand with an air rifle, which

caused significant injuries to his hand where the pellets, essentially,

separated into eight in his hand and broke most of the bones in his hand.

The guy that was shot has been open and said, "We were there to buy heroin and crack cocaine."

There's Damien Parker-Stokes, he's got lots of warning markers.

He takes legal highs and the last time he took legal highs, he stabbed

himself seven times in the throat and put a knife through his arm.

He is really unpredictable.

So when you deal with him, the last time, he was absolutely fine, but if he's taken drugs,

he will be totally unhinged and he will need to be dealt with properly.

Illegal drugs, and the violence that is often associated with them,

are among the most common causes of complaints to the neighbourhood police.

For Inspector Sharon Bennett,

tonight's raid is a great chance to show that the police are taking

people's concerns seriously.

We've given a huge message, haven't we? To the community, to drug dealers,

to everybody, to say, "We're out there. You never know when we're going to come through your door."

But the biggest thing is the public, who don't see us everyday outside

their house, who are giving us information and giving us intelligence, they think we don't do

anything with it. Yes, we do. We gather it. Once we've got enough,

we get that warrant and we'll go through that door.

When you're in position, you call strike, we'll go for the nick.

Yep, no problem, we're all ready and bussed up.

Not only are tonight's quarry suspected of being involved in drugs whilst still on bail,

but they're doing it less than a quarter of a mile from the police station.

So it only takes a moment for the team to arrive at the address.

FROM RADIO: OK, OK. Strike. Strike. Strike.

Strike, strike, strike. This is it.

They now need to get in quick before any drugs are thrown away.

Police!

I can smell cannabis already.

I smell cannabis.

It stinks of cannabis, in fact.

Three lads are in the first room.

Right, at the moment, you're all being detained cos we've got a warrant to search the premises,

so you're all going to be searched and detained whilst we do that, OK?

Two more people are in another room.

The cops suspect something has been thrown out of the window.

I can already see one potential bag out there with other things inside that might have been thrown out.

You have to try to get to that quite quickly,

cos if it's dry, it'll indicate it's just gone out of the window.

Outside, those suspicions are proved right.

Some bags of drugs are found.

I can see that they are deals of cannabis, there's five there,

so I've got ?50 worth.

And, disturbingly, some gun shells.

There's a case of what looks to be a 9mm round.

However, at the tip of the round, it's rubber inside, so maybe a blank.

So I'll get a firearms officer to come out and have a look at it and ascertain what that is.

Back inside, the lads are complaining about how many times

they've been gate-crashed by the police.

You got me three times, mate.

Three times in the last week or so.

DOG BARKS

A drugs dog is here to sniff out any more illegal substances.

The drugs dog has come in and done a cursory search of this room, has

already indicated to there being drugs down in this bottom corner with some cash.

Has indicated to the air rifle weapon in the corner here.

And has also indicated that there might be something in this bottom drawer down here.

We've got drugs on the bed as well.

When we came in, the phones were ringing, quite busy.

MOBILE PHONE RINGS

In the living room, the two main targets of tonight's operation are

here and, along with all the other occupants, are being arrested.

I'm arresting you on suspicion

of possession for intent to supply drugs, all right?

Raise your shoes. Bless you... Hang on. Stay there.

If you want to go with this officer here, and come with me...

The search has uncovered something very unnerving - illegal stun guns.

We found what we think are two Tasers inside the room.

If you turn around, there's the metal prongs there.

Stun guns are classified as firearms and anyone caught in possession of

one could be put in prison for up to ten years.

And there's more.

We've also got a high-powered air rifle here and in the corner, we've got, like,

a bow and arrow going on.

And even a handgun, which may or may not be a prohibited weapon.

So I've just requested from the force incident manager we get a firearms

unit here to make safe what we've got here,

cos we're not experts, we don't know what we're handling.

They'll make them safe and make sure that we can carry on searching safely.

On examination by firearms officers,

the rifle was found to be a legal air-powered weapon.

The pistol was also a legal air weapon.

However, the stun guns disguised as torches

were illegal and were confiscated.

Several of the individuals today we've arrested,

we actually carried out a warrant here only a matter of a few weeks ago,

about five weeks ago,

and that might seem frustrating, but they're currently on bail and we're looking to build that case.

But it doesn't mean that we just don't listen and we don't carry on.

If they carry on dealing drugs, we'll come back and keep putting that door in until they stop.

Despite all the late night work,

no charges were brought in relation to the illegal stun guns as there

was no evidence to prove who owned them.

However, all the occupants arrested in the earlier raid were found guilty

of drug offences and were dealt with at court.

The lad with the cocaine was fined over ?200 for drugs possession.

The main suspects pleaded guilty to dealing drugs and amongst other

offences, were sentenced to nine years behind bars.

His dad pleaded guilty to allowing the property to be used for the dealing

of Class B drugs, and was given a six-month suspended prison sentence.

Dishing out cautions to unruly kids damaging people's cars

is a last resort for the neighbourhood police.

A far better alternative is to tackle the root of the problem and find a

way of keeping bored kids off the streets.

In Weston-Super-Mare,

the neighbourhood team along with the local council have come up with

a plan to do just that, called Alive After 5ive.

We've got an Alive After 5ive campaign this summer,

which involves martial arts across the high street,

another week, rugby.

After rugby, we're hoping to get down and work with some of the young people when they come in.

Alive After Five runs from 5pm and youngsters are invited to come along

and try out loads of sports and activities.

We've turned what is Town Square into a bit of a sports area.

We've got different partners here, we've got the Fire Service, the Ambulance Service,

the Police Service, all down here giving out bits and pieces to try and tell people about what

we're doing and trying to get people to just enjoy their town.

The scheme allows officers to show off their fun side and PCSO Kimo Jaju,

takes this opportunity to get to know the kids on his beat.

Most of the calls that I respond to either have to do with antisocial behaviour

or youths doing certain things.

So by interacting with them, you know, we discuss with them things that they should do

and things that are not acceptable.

Finger puppets keep the kids entertained,

whilst fingerprinting gives them an insight into the Police Service.

Some of them are from all the way from Bristol, so by coming here,

they've seen the friendlier side, you know, of policing.

One of the most popular activities is the football,

with players from the town's football club, Weston-Super-Mare FC.

We've come down here today to offer, sort of, football activities.

We've got a shooting net over there, where they've got to try and get the ball through the hole.

We've got speed guns just here, where they've got to try to hit the ball as hard as they can.

I think it's just a chance for them to actually get involved in activities and maybe

try something that they've not tried before.

Obviously some of the kids haven't necessarily got a lot, finding

themselves in trouble and sometimes not through their own fault as well.

But I think when they get involved in sport especially,

it gives them something they can do,

it channels it into something positive rather than negative.

It's all about showing young people that there are better things to do

than hanging around the streets, getting into trouble, and that they can have pride in Weston.

We think it's really important that we can provide them something

to come and enjoy their town with. This is very much the start of

what we hope to be a whole long 12, 18 months

of Alive After 5ive activities.

We've seen that the neighbourhood police are well prepared

to deal with a wide variety of crime,

from wayward teenagers to crack users and escaped prisoners.

As a public service, it's something we should all be thankful for.

Your future is taken care of.

You'll be surprised what you'll find.

I need to see more.

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