Episode 9 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.

SIREN WAILS

Today's neighbourhood police teams continue that tradition,

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

SMASHING ..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.

On this new series of Neighbourhood Blues,

we follow the police men and women of Somerset,

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

Coming up...

A shocking, unprovoked attack is caught on CCTV.

I saw him run towards him. Yeah.

And the guy's... I didn't actually see it go in. OK.

The neighbourhood team go undercover to catch drug abusers by surprise.

He's running. He's running. He's heading towards the train station on

Redgate Street. He's running.

And the sorrowful drunk...

I'm sorry, mate. I'm begging you, mate.

..is hacked off about his new living quarters.

BLEEP! Calm down.

Stand up. BLEEP! Stand up.

Serious unprovoked assaults are rare, thank goodness,

but whenever one does take place, it can shock the whole community.

So, it's vital the neighbourhood police are seen

to deal with them quickly and effectively

to keep a lid on people's fear of violence.

In Weston-super-Mare, an emergency call has come in.

Jon Phippen is responding.

Someone has been the victim of a senseless and violent assault.

The attack happened outside an office

and the building CCTV cameras

have recorded the whole shocking incident.

The ambulance is on the way, bud, all right?

The youth comes out of the front door for a cigarette.

He lights up and then walks around to the side of the building.

While innocently enjoying his smoke,

the CCTV camera back at the front picks up a car

stopped on the road outside.

A man wearing a hoodie suddenly jumps out of the car

and leaps over the wall before, for some reason, returning to his car.

The lad with a cigarette is still minding his own business,

making the most of his break.

When suddenly, his world changes.

The man in the hoodie runs back to the building and makes a beeline for

his prey.

He chases the youth round to the car park

where he brings him to the ground and then starts hitting him.

The lad tries to defend himself,

but his attacker is too strong and brings him down again.

With the victim now defenceless,

it appears the assailant has got something to say to him

while jabbing his back with what turned out to be some scissors,

before he casually walks off.

As the man leaves, he is joined by a woman,

she appears to be the driver of the car.

Office staff who witnessed the attack

quickly come to the lad's aid.

Were you here when it happened, were you?

We were in the office, we looked at the CCTV and could see something.

So, we came straight out,

he was just going up that little path there

and I said, "What's going on?"

And he turned to talk to us, he had the scissors.

He was trying to hide them up his sleeve. OK.

Realising the attacker had scissors makes the whole incident

even more horrifying, as they can be as dangerous as a knife.

For the log, the male's been stabbed with scissors.

The air ambulance has been called in and paramedics are now at the scene,

but why has such a mindless attack happened in broad daylight?

Any idea what it's about? They were stopped at the lights

and the guy sticking fingers and BLEEP smiling. So, BLEEP reacted

and went like that too.

And with that, he jumped out of the car and chased him. All right.

So, did you see the stabbing itself?

I saw him run towards him. Yeah.

And the guy's...

I didn't actually see it go in. OK. And then he...

The attacker's car caught on CCTV is a vital clue.

Did you see the car that left?

I didn't see the reg, but it's a grey Volkswagen Beetle.

Grey, was it? Yeah. They were all saying it was blue.

It looked grey/blue. Was it? It looked grey to me. OK.

It's the index I need. Yeah.

With no registration number at this stage,

it is going to be difficult to track down the grey/blue VW.

So, Jon's next thought is to see if CCTV picked it up.

Yeah, can you ask if they've got view of BLEEP Street

with any of their cameras?

And if so, is there a new shaped, blue VW Beetle about,

potentially three up - two males and one female?

One thing that is agreed about the Beetle is

that it's a convertible.

And there aren't many of those in Weston.

We've got to know we've got scant details,

but apparently, it's a dark, dark navy blue...

So there shouldn't be too many.

We are quite away from being able to find out who our offender is,

but there are checks going on,

so hopefully, we can come up with an index.

Finding the car will, with any luck, lead Jon straight to the suspect.

Thankfully, the victim's condition isn't critical, but he is in shock.

Obviously, we don't want someone as violent as that

walking about, so the sooner we can trace the vehicle

and find out who he might be, the sooner we can get him into custody.

After being checked out by the paramedics,

it's apparent the lad has had a lucky escape.

What has he got injury-wise? Is he just...

The puncture wound is not too deep, though?

That's good.

Appears our...

victim has got a small puncture wound to the back.

Doesn't look like the scissors have gone in too deep.

I think the bigger concern is where he's banged his head

when he's gone to the ground.

Obviously, he is with the ambulance, so he's with the right people.

Suddenly, Jon gets a call.

CCTV picked up a vehicle that might possibly be our vehicle.

So, we're just going to go off and make that inquiry now.

Later, we will discover whether the inquiry leads to the suspect.

Getting to grips with complaints about illegal drugs is

one of the neighbourhood police's most pressing concerns,

particularly because as so many other crimes are connected to drugs.

It causes lots of problems.

Yeah, you've got the people stealing for the money.

You've got the actions that people do under the influence of drugs.

So, it just brings down everything.

If it has consequences on other people, which it does,

it's not the right thing.

The neighbourhood team in Bridgwater are doing whatever

they can to take out the dealers and users.

The neighbourhood officers are really focusing on those issues,

if you like, that keep coming back.

And their focus is around

preventing issues from occurring in the first place.

So, they are looking at that preventative strategy

and dealing with problems in the medium to long term.

Today, Andy's team are running an operation to clamp down on people

openly buying and selling illegal drugs on Bridgwater's streets.

Rachel Aston is briefing officers on today's plan of action.

Today is going to mainly be about intel gathering.

We've got some local people complaining about drug dealing

in the area and the areas of dealing will be around the train station.

We know they are using the trains to come to and from Bridgwater.

The station is not the only concern.

..and Sydenham have lots of needles being found by staff members

from the school, lots of children are accessing that area as well.

So pay particularly close attention to that.

Uniforms have been left behind today.

Being in civvies means the cops can go unnoticed

and take offenders off their guard.

Rachel and Jen Atkinson are in an unmarked car

that also won't draw attention.

We know the faces of the people, but unfortunately, they also know us.

So, we're staying very much in the plain car,

going around the areas that we know the dealers are coming from

or they're likely to be doing the deals in.

And we'll be acting with CCTV as a bit of a spotter car

and then directing people to the places they need to go,

and hopefully, getting the deals and the naughty people at the time.

Collette Ranson and Kev Curd are going to patrol

around the railway station.

PCSO Jo Farrow is observing from the council CCTV control room

and she will relay the movements of people on the street to Rachel

and Jen in the car.

We've got these...three men and they've just walked all the way

from West Street all the way through the town. Acting quite suspiciously.

They are just hovering around. It looks like they're waiting

for somebody at the moment, but two of them are disappearing off

towards The Church Street direction.

I'm going to keep an eye on them.

Within moments, Jo is back in contact with Rachel and Jen.

She has seen someone else acting strangely.

That's no... We just happen to be at the end,

so we will float around and see

if he pops out anywhere.

Nothing wrong with walking funny, unless it is

because they've got drugs concealed between their butt cheeks,

something that has been found to be going on here.

She believes he might have drugs plugged at the moment

because he is walking quite uncomfortably, shall we say.

Having drugs plugged is a rather unpleasant way to hide drugs

when travelling around.

We use it to refer to drug dealers or runners that will conceal

the drugs anywhere they can, usually up their backsides.

Because then when we search them, we can't find anything on them.

Whereabouts are you?

Jen's just had a call from one of her plainclothed colleagues.

SHE MUMBLES

..the address on the actual estate that we are interested in,

so we're just going to head over there at the moment.

We don't know exactly what's going on, but they sounded quite

rushed with it, so I'm assuming they've got someone stopped.

Uniformed officers backing up the team chased two lads.

One has been caught, but the other has managed to get away.

Rachel and Jen go after him.

Almost straightaway, they spot a lad in a blue jacket.

He's running. He's running.

He's heading toward the train station, Redgate Street and running.

They believe he sold drugs to the lad who has been being detained.

Where is he now?

If the seller is from out of town,

it is likely he will make his getaway by train.

It might've been that he scooted down the alley.

OVER RADIO: 'So unless he comes over the bridge,

'we are not going to see him.'

Yeah, we just saw him on Redgate Street

and as soon as he clocked us, he started running.

So we thought he might come over the foot bridge,

but if you've not seen him, he's obviously circled back on himself.

Either way, he has disappeared,

so Rachel and Jen head back to where the other suspect is being detained.

Kev gives a rundown on what's just happened.

We identified ourselves as police officers because this lad

and another lad have climbed over a school fence.

This lad has then decided to run off,

dropped his rucksack in the lane.

I've then just given chase on foot to here,

where he has decided to become a bit uncooperative

and fought with me in the middle of the road.

Just a couple of scrapes to my knuckles,

but nothing major.

The desperate suspect threw whatever

he was carrying down a drain.

As he sort of stopped running, he's crouched over that drain

and turned to face me and dropped something down through.

He said it was a Spice bag, bag of Spice.

Luckily, whatever it was hasn't gone far.

They've just had a look down there

and he is telling us it's Spice, which is a legal high,

but Herbal Haze has been found down the drain.

Wow.

A mixture of possibly cannabis and legal high.

Blueberry-smelling cannabis, at the moment, is what we've got, I think.

These substances, known as synthetic cannabis, are a mix of herbs

and man-made chemicals often flavoured.

But they can be stronger and more addictive than cannabis.

And that's not all that went down the drain.

A substance inside a piece of foil has also been found.

You'll get it tested, won't you?

It's something, a fairly small amount.

Jen has got a good idea of what it is.

He's trying to say it's a legal high,

but the way it is wrapped up inside the packet,

we are pretty sure it's going to come back as heroin.

So, he will get interviewed later on.

The drugs will have to go for testing, but good start.

With the suspect now off to custody,

back at his desk,

Kev takes a closer look at what's inside the foil wrap.

A brown powder. There's a possibility it's going to be heroin.

A small amount just there inside the foil,

which he has had concealed inside his legal high.

So, he may need to be further arrested

for possession of a Class A substance.

And he will be interviewed

and that will be tested following his interview.

After questioning, it was discovered that the drug user was

wanted in relation to two other offences and is currently

on bail pending confirmation of the substance found in the foil.

This day has been really successful.

We've gained a lot of intelligence today just from being out

on the street in plain clothes, as well as having officers in our CCTV.

So, yeah, really positive day today.

Earlier in Weston-super-Mare,

Jon Phippen was responding to an unprovoked attack.

A youth standing outside a building was attacked by a stranger

out of the blue.

He chased the youth, brought him to the ground and started punching him

before getting away in a blue VW Beetle convertible.

In the fight, the victim received a stab wound from a pair

of scissors, but thankfully, he wasn't seriously injured.

From CCTV footage and witness accounts,

police have a description of the attacker and his car,

but unfortunately, not the registration number.

Now, all of Weston's neighbourhood team are on the hunt

for the vehicle.

With only three dark blue VW Beetle convertibles registered

in Weston-super-Mare,

it should hopefully just be a process of elimination.

Sharp-eyed Jon Phippen has just spotted one of them.

Ooh, ooh, there's one at the back. Is there?

We need to get that way. Yeah.

If the this Beetle doesn't lead to the attacker,

at least there are only two other ones to investigate.

Can someone do some checks?

See if this vehicle is known to us or anything.

Yeah, that's needed, thank you.

Because the assault on the youth was so random,

they need to find the suspect as soon as possible.

For update information, my colleague is going in.

You've got CCTV covering the service area where the vehicle is parked.

The worry for us is, you know,

has this person got mental health issues

or are they just someone who's just going to go around

randomly stabbing people?

You know, we just don't want those people around town, really.

After checking the store's CCTV footage,

it's discovered this Beetle belongs to an elderly couple.

Weston's two other blue soft top Beetles were also eliminated

from the inquiry.

So, over the next few days, police widen their search.

And with the help of hundreds of CCTV cameras,

25 miles away in Bristol, they find the car

and the man they've been hunting for.

We've managed to get a male in custody.

And through using all of our resources

and partner agencies like North Somerset Council

and their CCTV system

as well as the ANPR cameras, we were able to trace the vehicle.

Checks against that vehicle have shown the female owner.

And checks on our intelligence system have shown her boyfriend

to be the offender.

It has sent shocks through the community.

From a reassurance point of view, it's great that, you know,

from what we had on the night, which was very little

in terms of a suspect, so actually through the work we've done

with our agencies and colleagues and detectives,

actually lead to an arrest.

So, it is absolutely fantastic

and now all we want is a good result at court.

Despite all the detective work, witnesses were not able to

pick out the suspect in an identity parade.

And with no weapon or DNA ever found,

the decision to go ahead with the prosecution was dropped by the CPS.

Still to come on Neighbourhood Blues...

A store manager is threatened after a tussle with an irate customer.

As he was leaving, got his camera out, tried filming me,

told me he was going to get all his mates to pull up outside

and they were going to wait for me.

And a woman is the victim of daylight robbery.

"Don't scream, I'm taking your handbag."

And by the time that's registered and you've actually turned around,

he was actually out there and running up the step.

It's fair to say that youth and fashion go hand-in-hand,

especially urban fashion.

In Weston-super-Mare,

the latest must-have fashion accessory

is the man bag.

Working the streets, neighbourhood cops get to know all

the latest trends.

This morning, Russ Millier is responding to a call.

Two fashion-conscious youths,

who are wanted for a robbery earlier today,

have just been seen on Bournville estate

and the stolen item is...

a man bag.

The victim has given full descriptions of the suspects,

so as he approaches the estate,

Russ calls CCTV to help with the search.

Grasmere, mate. If you'd zoom that camera that's on Grasmere,

down to the far left-hand corner

and just keep it on there. I'm going to go on the other side.

Just see if they pop back out.

He's wearing an all-in-one sort of tracksuit.

And the other one is wearing, like, a grey hooded top.

As CCTV keeps an eye on one end of the road,

Russ spots a youth up ahead on the other.

And he is wearing a grey hoodie matching the description

of one of the suspects, plus the latest male accessory - a man bag.

All right?

Stay where you are a minute. Huh? Stay where you are a minute.

Russ is familiar with most of the lads on the estate,

but not this one.

Never met you before.

Never seen you on the Bournville.

How long have you lived down here?

Really?

Are you known to us, mate?

No?

Just wear the same old man bags that the rest of them wear.

But before Russ can have a proper word with the youth,

he gets an emergency call.

I'll leave you to it, mate. All right?

Russ had realised the lad isn't one of the two suspects.

Now, he has been told they've just been seen across the estate.

Russ wastes no time.

SIREN WAILS

Two sharp-eyed PCSOs recognised the suspects

and have got them detained.

That's fine. I'm not saying that you have. I'm just saying...

I haven't been in town today, mate. I know. I'm not saying you have.

I'm saying you've both been named, so therefore...

This time, the youth in the grey hoodie is one that Russ knows.

Come and take a seat in my car.

Alongside providing a visible presence in a neighbourhood,

the PCSO's role also includes intelligence gathering.

Being on the beat, I get to know the regular people

who are out and about, especially the two gentlemen

I've stopped today. One of them is very well known to me

for other offences. I can recognise them at quite a distance as well.

It's really handy being able to know these people locally,

and being able to stop them.

While the youth in black is detained,

Russ searches the one in the grey hoodie.

What's in here?

Your laptop?

Right. Man bags. Is there anything in there that shouldn't be?

A load of random stuff.

As well as a possible stolen man bag,

there's confusion over whom the laptop belongs to.

So, it's your mate's laptop?

OK.

I don't know what's what at the minute. I'll find out for you.

Yeah. Bummer, isn't it?

RUSS WHISTLES

Russ does a quick search of the lad...

All right, take a seat back in there.

..before taking a look inside the backpack

where the two man bags are.

Whose man bag is this one?

Russ has seen a lot of man bags in his time,

but not a top-of-the-range, designer one like this,

which matches the description of the one stolen earlier.

You are under arrest on suspicion of robbery this morning.

You've been named responsible.

Is there anything else in there you shouldn't have?

But it's what's inside the bag that gets the lad into even more trouble.

Also under arrest for possession of cannabis.

It's a good piece of teamwork.

PCSOs working with us on the Bournville,

out on patrol, just come across it.

You know, radioed us all in at different times.

Yeah, really good piece of work, teamwork.

It just shows that it works.

The youth was sentenced to a month in prison for possession

of the cannabis found in the man bag.

Interestingly, the person who had the bag stolen

decided not to press charges.

The other youth was released without being charged.

It takes a special kind of person to be a neighbourhood police officer.

From the PCSOs in a team up to the inspector,

they all possess a determination to make local neighbourhoods

safer places and a resolve to improve people's lives.

I bet any money you like that

if we looked at their application forms for every single officer

that has been part of this programme,

you would see that they want to make a difference,

they want to help people.

And that's exactly what they do.

Kev Curd is one of those who likes to help people.

This morning in Bridgwater, he is on his way to aid a motorist

who's broken down, blocking a busy main road.

It's not appropriate to sit and wait for him to get recovery.

It's going to cause us more problems in the long run.

Right, you've got steering, have you?

The sooner the car is out of the way,

the sooner the traffic can move on.

But it is going to require some manpower...

Oh, my...

..not just push the car to one side,

but to manoeuvre it around a roundabout.

One final push... KEV GROANS

..and the workout is over for Bridgwater's strongmen.

HE BLOWS RASPBERRIES

Kev is still feeling the burn.

I've been better. It's harder than it looks.

And after a day of training yesterday,

my shoulders and legs are hurting now.

But he is off the road, traffic is flowing.

With the traffic on the move again,

no sooner is Kev back in the driving seat

when he gets another call to do with cars.

Thank you. En route to that person,

4891 is not a code one, so I'm making a first instance.

The manager of a large motor accessories store has hit

the panic button for immediate help.

He has had a fight with a customer who tried to return a power unit,

claiming it was bought from the store.

Unfortunately, Kev is too late to catch him.

OK.

All right, thank you.

Although the customer has driven off,

Kev still needs to speak to the manager who pushed the panic button.

The guy came in, trying to return an item, huge power unit. OK, like a...

Like a... I can show you. Yeah, show me, then.

Till staff and the manager refused to give the customer a refund

for the power unit without proof

that he had bought it from the store,

which happens to be the most expensive one on sale at ?150.

Unable provide any proof of purchase,

the customer began making threats.

Gave it a lot of mouth.

Asked him to leave, as he was leaving,

got his camera out, tried filming me.

Telling me he was going to get all his mates to pull up outside

and they were going to wait for me.

I took his camera off him and deleted the photos.

Cos he can't film me in my shop without my permission.

That's why you've had a bit of a tumble

cos he was trying to get his phone back? Yeah.

It was a brave move by the manager to try to

protect his privacy as the fight could have got out of hand.

The manager also explains that after a recent stock check,

staff had discovered that a power unit had gone missing.

And it was the same kind as the one the customer was trying to return.

So, the original theft, there is no CCTV of that at all? OK.

Similar to a product you've had stolen. Yeah.

You don't know if it's exactly the same one. Yeah. So, yeah.

The original power unit theft may not have been

caught on the store's CCTV cameras, but today's incident with

the hostile customer has.

He decided to tell me... That was him waving his hands, telling me he

was going to get all his mates to park out in front of the store

and make my life a misery unless I gave him a refund.

I open the door and said, "Please leave.

"I don't want you in the building any more."

But instead of going out of the door,

the customer started taking pictures of the manager on his mobile phone

to which the manager took exception.

So, a little bit of a ruckus down there.

And then he gets up.

The customer then left, but quickly came back for more.

Yeah, he goes down to his car and comes back with his phone again

while I was sat there and tries taking photos of my face again.

That's when he asked me to come outside,

so he could talk about it with me outside.

Would I like to come outside and discuss it?

Have you got registration on the car he was in?

A white transit van.

Kev takes the details to run through the PNC,

police national computer, to find out who owns the van.

All of a sudden, the manager gets an unexpected call.

Yeah?

I think this is him on the phone. Oh. Must be him on the phone.

It sounds like the irate customer wants another word.

Hello.

But it isn't the customer.

It's someone claiming to be his dad.

He says he's not calling to complain,

but to apologise for his son's behaviour.

That's entirely up to you.

If you want to return that item and you can prove, you know,

proof of purchase with whatever - a receipt or bank details...

The man on the phone says he does have a receipt

and Kev asks him to pass on some advice to his son.

What he needs to do, if he is trying to legitimately return an item,

is one - have a receipt for it

and two - if he hasn't got a receipt for it,

just walk out the door when he is refused one.

All right? Bye-bye.

It sounds like his son has taken it upon himself to try

and return that item without Dad sort of knowing what's going on.

But if the phone call wasn't enough of a surprise,

Kev's just found out something interesting

about the customer's van.

So, they want us potentially... If this vehicle is seen again

is to stop and obtain the VIN number to make sure it belongs

on these plates.

The information is that the van might have the same number plates

as those register to another transit van in Peterborough.

So they've asked us to try and...

If we see the vehicle again, stop the vehicle and obtain...

try and marry up the vehicle identification number

with the number plates.

There was no hard evidence to prove that the power unit

the customer tried to return was stolen from the store.

And police are still keeping an eye out for the van.

According to a recent report,

police spent 53% of their time tackling drink-related crime.

Dealing with aggressive drunks,

who have had too much to drink,

prevents officers like Jim Murray

from dealing with other important issues.

Jim has just spotted something going on up ahead.

It looks like we might have a fight just here.

I'm not sure what's going on.

SHOUTING

Listen to BLEEP me now!

A young man is shouting at another lad who is holding on to him

trying to calm him down.

Put me down! Harry, listen...

He is angry at being thrown out of a bar by security for being drunk.

No! Harry, don't bite. CHATTER

It's mayhem and the lad has just lashed out.

Mate, has he...? Smile, you are on telly.

Has he bitten someone? He just bit me.

In the scuffle, the lad has bitten the security man from the bar.

Jim needs to find out exactly what has happened.

He came back several times.

He got asked to move away, he stepped up again,

he came through, tried to go through the doorman.

Sat on him, lifted him up, moved away, brought him down here,

started going crazy, came back again.

The lad's drunken rage continues,

but luckily, the bite isn't serious

and the security man doesn't want to press charges.

Sorry, do you want to make a complaint? Has he got you?

Mate, I don't even know if he realised it was my arm

he was biting, in all fairness.

Even without a complaint, Jim is of a mind to arrest the lad.

He needs to go home.

I might have to, I'm just trying to find out what's going on.

What's going on?

He's claiming he was assaulted first, but he is so inebriated,

it's difficult to get anything sensible out of him.

Are you taking him home? You taking him home?

Who's...

CHATTER Oi, oi, oi.

Listen, you are going to get arrested in a minute.

Now, calm yourself down. Calm yourself down.

He attacked me first.

I understand. Now, calm yourself down. All right?

The lad says he isn't to blame, but Jim has had enough anyway.

Trying to get you away from the door...

Mate, you came back several, several times.

Come on. Come on.

Look, mate, just go home. Have a good...

No, they won't, mate. They're not going to touch you. Mate...

Mate, they're not going to send you to jail.

Give me a hand.

Mate, they're not going to send you to jail.

Mopping up Friday night drunks takes a disproportionate

amount of the emergency service's time...

Come on.

..and costs everybody millions of pounds a year.

Come on, get in the van. No, I've done nothing wrong. Please!

I'm begging you. Please. I've done nothing.

No, sorry, we're just struggling to get him in the van.

He is in the van now. One in custody for D, please.

He's been arrested for drunk disorderly.

Can't have that behaviour in the town.

So, we are going to take him back, book him in for the night.

He's obviously well lubricated.

Very fortunate we just happened to be driving down,

driving down the road at the right time, really,

and saw a bit of a scuffle going on.

Managed to intervene before anybody got seriously hurt.

So, that's one of the benefits of being in the town, isn't it?

Hopefully, the journey to the station has helped

the lad calm down.

Come on, mate. You going to behave?

Come on. No, I know we haven't.

Just relax, yeah? Shh, shh, shh. Don't be silly.

You ain't got nothing on me. I didn't do nothing.

All I know is you were kicking off. I wasn't...

HE SLURS HIS WORDS I know.

He attacked me first, mate. I swear to God. All right.

All I want to do...

But he's going nowhere until he has seen the custody sergeant.

No, I'm sorry, mate. I'm begging you, please.

I'm going to speak to you when you are sober. No, I promise you...

You got some gloves on? He's going straight down...

Because he is so drunk and volatile,

they're going to search him in the cell,

but the sight of more officers...

Come on, let's get you down to the cell. Come on.

I'm begging you, please. Can I...?

..just winds him up again.

HE SLURS HIS WORDS

Calm down. Stand up, come on.

Stand up, come on. Come on. Get up!

Put me down.

Put me down now! I swear to God, I'm going to BEEP. Put me down.

It is easy to see how so much police time is wasted dealing with

people who have been drinking.

Put him down this way. HE MUMBLES

The lad will have to be restrained in order to be searched.

All right now. Relax, Harry. Come on. I've done nothing wrong.

You know it. Just relax.

BLEEP! HARRY MUMBLES

BLEEP!

You know what they are. Tell me what they are.

BLEEP! BLEEP!

I've done nothing BLEEP wrong, mate.

A night in the cell should help the lad see some sense.

He's obviously got himself very upset, very worked up,

so we've taken him straight down to the cell

and, obviously, searched him in the cell.

We will leave him there to calm down for a little bit

and then we will have a chat with him.

The suspect eventually pleaded guilty to being drunk and disorderly

and his evening turned out to be even more

expensive than he'd bargained for...

after being landed with a fine and costs of ?100.

Neighbourhood police units are made up of beat managers, PCs and PCSOs.

But there is another very important member of the team -

the police dog.

So, when drugs, weapons or other evidence needs to be found,

the dogs are sent in.

And with noses thousands of times more sensitive than a human's,

dogs are an invaluable tool for tracking down a suspect.

Dog handler Mandy Gornicki has great confidence in her dog's abilities.

Tracking is one of the things that my dog does completely

without my help, to a certain degree.

I have to rely 100% on him

cos I have no idea where the person has gone.

Mandy has been working with Argo,

a three-year-old German shepherd, for a few months now.

He is new to the job,

so Mandy takes every opportunity to keep him on his toes.

Today, Mandy is making her own scent trail for Argo to track

while a toy plays the part of the suspect.

The dog has no idea where I'm going.

Yes, he's in the back of the van barking and he can see me,

but he won't see me once I go that way.

ARGO BARKS Argo can't wait to get sniffing.

Getting a result all depends on the weather and the ground surface.

And lush grass on a day like this is ideal

for hanging onto a strong scent.

Argo is doing well and he is getting close to the toy.

Yeah! Good boy.

Good boy.

Well done.

When the dog is tracking, they are pulling.

I mean, so much so that you can sometimes get rope burns.

All we do is,

they are tracking to find a toy,

so they can play with it at the end with you.

So, it's all about the enjoyment of it.

Good boy, Args. Leave.

Good lad. You ready? Good boy.

A few days later, Argo is tracking again, but this time for real.

He is in Weston-super-Mare searching for a burglar

who has just stolen a bag from a woman.

Jon Phippen is on his way to the scene.

We've got a report of a burglary that has just taken place.

A male knocked on the door of address,

a female has answered it, and then he stole her handbag.

Officers have flooded the area.

The woman lives in a ground-floor flat approached by stairs

leading down from the street.

And as it is a warm day, her front door was open

when the suspect knocked asking for help.

So he asked for directions.

I walked up with him, gave him the directions,

turned around, walked back down.

Walked straight back in and sat down there.

And I had my back to the door cos I picked my iPad up,

which I was holding. I was going to do my grocery order.

And at that point, a voice said,

"Don't scream, I'm taking your handbag."

Just like that.

By the time that's registered and you've actually turned around,

he was actually out there and running up the steps.

While Argo tries to pick up the scent,

Jon checks to see if the burglar has binned the handbag he stole.

HE MUMBLES

We've, obviously, flooded the scene initially

in the hope that we could catch the offender nearby.

That hasn't led us to an arrest at this point,

so now what we are doing is starting to search around on foot,

see if anyone is hiding or the stolen item has been discarded.

Argo has picked up a scent trail.

So I think, even if you're burgled and you come home and they've been

in your house. It's the fact you're actually in it when they come in

and speak to you, that's what's frightening.

And that you don't hear them coming...

I think that's what is unnerving.

For that victim, it's a quite traumatic experience.

So, now what we've got to do is our absolute best to try

and catch this person because it's highly unlikely

it's the first time they've done it.

And bring them to swift justice, if we can.

While Argo continues putting his nose to work,

Jon get some good news.

INCOHERENT MESSAGE OVER RADIO

I did. Kyle, where did you find it?

One of my PSA colleagues,

who's also out doing an area search,

has found the bag.

The stolen handbag was discovered by neighbours

tossed into their garden.

Now Argo finds something -

a purse.

We've come from the scene of the burglary, turned left into

this street. We came along a bit further and he has indicated

on an item of property, which is a wallet, from a handbag

that was stolen from the burglary.

Argo's training has paid off.

It is a good result, good result for the victim

if all the bank cards are there because that saves the grief

and the hassle of having to cancel all those kinds of things.

Although the handbag and purse have been recovered,

around ?30 in cash is still missing.

And unfortunately, the thief has gone to ground.

We've caught him going up the road.

We've gone right, he's then changed his mind,

crossed over the road and gone up a set of steps towards a door.

Argo has led the police to the door of some flats.

But alas, that's where the trail goes cold.

I can only say that is where my dog has gone.

I can't say someone has run in there from the burglary,

but, you know, it's a very good job that he's done today

because these sort of tracks this time of day are very,

very rare and there's a lot of contamination around.

Hard surface is very difficult tracking and it's very dry.

It's windy. So the scent would disperse quite quickly.

But, yeah, I'm pleased with just the wallet. That suits me.

I'm happy with that.

And Mandy is not the only ones who is happy.

It was nice to know you were getting everything back, bar the cash, so...

yeah, I thought the neighbourhood police was brilliant in Weston.

I was quite impressed with the whole thing. Yeah.

Now, it will be down to the crime scene investigators.

We are going to go back to the police station,

put in some forms to request CSI to come out

and do some forensic work on the items we've recovered.

And hopefully, that will lead to a positive result and a conviction.

To date, no-one has been caught for the crime,

but investigations will continue.

The combined work of police, the public and Argo

has enabled forensic evidence to be collected.

And if the suspect slips up again,

the neighbourhood police will be ready for him.

The variety of crimes we've seen dealt with today bears witness

to the skills required for the difficult

task of neighbourhood policing.

Thankfully, officers are always ready for whatever comes their way.

Until next time, evening, all.

We know we're the last thing

between something disastrous...

..and something hopeful.

Just sometimes we make a difference.

That's why we come to work.

That's what this place is all about.