Episode 3 Police 24/7

This time on Police 24/7...

On the beat with Neighbourhood Officers in Pontypridd...

Police! Police!

-Contact with one female.

-One female, yeah.

..investigating illegal dangerous dogs...

In my view, he is a pit bull-type dog.

..and the helicops are on the search for a missing person.

Whisky Oscar Nine Nine.

It's quite urgent. We've got somebody on a railway.

This is a week in the life of South Wales Police.

Seven days of action with the cops on the street

and the criminals that they try to beat.

This is Police 24/7.

Pontypridd.

And the sheriff of the town is patrolling the streets.

Hi, Keith.

Are you OK? Good boy.

Yeah, I'll come in and see you later, Kev.

Since neighbourhood police officer Colin Price

became the town's bobby on the beat, more crime has been detected.

Morning, gentlemen.

Much to the joy of the shopkeepers.

You know, he is a presence in the town.

It does make a difference, as far as policing goes.

-He really does.

-Do you feel safer having him here?

Safer? With him about?!

Yeah, no. He is definitely a bonus to the town,

having a policeman on duty in the town.

Colin took up neighbourhood policing

after many years responding to emergency calls.

Everyone who knows me, knows I like to talk.

Hello, darling.

So for me to do this now, where all I do all day is talk to people,

I think that, in itself, is a brilliant job.

Plus, I like being in the high visibility side of things, as well.

It's nice to have the old people grabbing you by the wrist,

telling you how nice it is to see a policeman on the street.

They don't realise how strong they are, some of them!

Let's have a look round here.

It's not long into his shift and he has an incident to deal with.

Oops, don't panic yet, you don't know how much trouble you're in.

-Is it just cannabis?

-Yeah.

-How old are you?

-I'm 18.

You're 18, are you?

How much drugs is here, then? A spliff there, is it?

You never had nothing for cannabis or for any drug before? OK.

What we'll do, as soon as they come back with previous,

-if you've got nothing for drugs...

-A street warning.

-A street warning. You've never had one of those before?

-Nope.

You can't have two of those, either.

I just can't believe I've been caught, like. I didn't even smoke one!

You haven't had a chance to have a puff of it and it's taken off you.

This is the same as being arrested, it is a conviction.

It will show you've been done for possession on this occasion

and not been arrested and taken to the station.

All right, mate. OK?

Cheers, Rhys. Enjoy the sunshine.

All right. Take care. Ta-ra.

Cheers, Rhys.

Policing has evolved over the years,

as the nature of crime changes.

In Cardiff, a team are on their way to seize a suspected dangerous dog,

under the expert supervision of Dog Legislation Officer, Walter Pennell.

A lot of the time, these people buy these dogs,

thinking they're Staffordshire bull terriers.

And all of a sudden, they grow up into these pit bull-type dogs.

Like what we're doing today, we execute warrants

to seize them and for me to examine them.

Already this year, Officer Pennell has removed over 100 dogs

from homes in South Wales.

And it's not easy taking away the family pet.

I've got a warrant here, under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

Is your mum here at the moment?

We've got to take the dog, because it's possibly a prohibited dog,

under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

-Does that look like a pit bull?

-Yes, it does.

-Does it look like a dangerous dog to you?

-It does, actually.

-Look, you're all here...

-Chill out, mate.

We've come for the dog.

We've come for the dog.

Wait there. You said to me it was a Staff cross.

-What do you think a Staff cross is?

-What do you mean? A Staff bullmastiff.

A Staff crossed with another dog, mate, is a type pit bull.

Trying to take a dog that's friendly with everyone.

All right, shut up. Shut your mouth. You're making it worse, Shut up!

Mum of the house has returned in the nick of time.

And PC Pennell takes the opportunity to explain why the dog is being removed.

We've seized the dog, as a suspected pit bull-type dog.

Therefore, he needs to be taken away to our secure kennels,

so I can formally carry out an examination on him.

Obviously, your boy there's a bit upset, agitated.

Can you have a word with him? Mum's always the best to have a word.

-I'm sure you can handle him.

-I'll try.

-OK.

-Good lad, there you are.

-Good boy.

Sometimes it's a bird's eye view that's required to solve a crime.

Whisky Oscar Nine Nine is the police eye in the sky.

-OK, log number of the last one.

-Yeah.

On duty today are police observers, PC Peter Edwards and Nick Kane.

Air Support is a close knit team,

and Officer Kane has been part of the family for 17 years.

As this is a converted house, it does feel like a second home.

You know, and we keep everything, our own fridge, our own food,

and everything here is very much like a home, with a big hobby

that occupies most of your time.

Last year, The South and East Wales Air Support Unit

attended almost 2,000 incidents...

from tracking down offenders, to missing persons.

We are just like a CCTV camera in the air.

If you wanted to search an open area for somebody,

a helicopter's an ideal resource.

Fine to Penarth west. Any further updates?

Today's shout is to Penarth, on the hunt for a wanted person.

Do you think he would have kept running onto the cliff path

or do you think he's going to be hiding around there somewhere?

RADIO: I think he's going to be hiding, from what my colleague said.

'He's probably in a garden somewhere - or he was, at least.'

OK, if you can hold that position, I'll have a search of the gardens

and we'll make a lot of noise.

If somebody sees something unusual, hopefully, they'll ring it in.

Can you see any place for our suspect?

Despite making a lot of noise in the sky, the crew spot nothing.

It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.

It's frustrating for all the team.

It's like pulling teeth, this one.

-OK, guys, are you happy if I head home?

-Definitely.

-OK.

RADIO: That's great. Thanks for the assistance. Out.

The helicops never know when the next shout will come

and that's part of the job's appeal for Officer Kane.

The opportunity come to go on air support and I thought it was a great police job.

Before I was on traffic, on the motorbikes,

which was great, but I was just dealing with traffic, traffic matters.

But now I've got a full remit.

I deal with every police aspect of policing.

That was the attraction for me.

It's market day in Pontypridd.

Morning, girls. All right? How are we? All right?

-Morning.

-How are you, sir?

-I'm all right, how are you?

And time for PC Price to carry out some crime prevention.

At night time, leave your till drawer open, leave it empty

and obviously the doors locked.

They won't damage the till trying to get in, anyway.

Proactive policing has helped Colin make the town feel safer.

Are you OK?

You being a good boy?

-Yeah!

-Yeah? Good boy.

But there is one hot spot he's desperate to clear up.

This is the area where we've got a few drug problems.

I mean, there's paraphernalia here, on the floor.

That's a syringe wrapper.

The orange tip there is off a syringe.

This is before we get down... A drug packet.

Yeah, it's powder residue.

I would imagine that's probably cocaine or amphet.

One of my personal things, being a dad and worried about the kids

is, when they've injected, they'll discard needles down the banking, down here.

The channel is actually a flood channel for the river

and, last week, with all the heavy rain, the needles were washed down.

Where they go under the bridge down there, they come out to Ynysangharad Park,

which, in the summer, is packed.

Young kids use, what we call, the beach.

They go down paddling and, unfortunately, we are looking at

possible syringes being down on the beach area, washed up from here.

What I'd like to do with the council is to block this area off

at that end and at this end, so this whole area can be sterilised

and we can, not get rid of the drug problem,

but at least we can force them away from the town centre

and tidy this place up a bit.

Hiya, love. It's the police. Can you come down a sec? Nothing to worry about.

Dog Legislation Officer Walter Pennell has received intelligence

about another potential pit bull-type dog.

Hiya, love. Sorry to bother you. We didn't wake you up?

He and PC Hicks have a warrant to take the animal today,

even though the legal owner is not at home.

What I've got here is a warrant, OK, to enter the address.

-For what?

-I'll explain that to you once we come inside, OK.

-All right?

-He's not a pit bull.

He's got characteristics of a pit bull-type dog, all right.

What we need to do is take him away for me to examine him formally.

And then, once I've decided what he is, I'll let you know

and we'll take it from there, my love.

I don't want you taking my dog.

-Unfortunately...

-He's not a dangerous dog. Do I get him back?

I'll explain that to you in a moment, all right.

Don't get upset over it now.

I wouldn't like it if someone came into my house and took my pet.

-They're my babies.

-Of course they are.

People get upset when they have their dogs taken.

It's like a death in the family, I suppose,

when a dog is taken away from them.

You take the dog out of the home environment

and it leaves a bit of a void.

Up, come on, then. Good lad. Good boy.

-You will look after him, won't you?

-Look...

A policeman's promise, if that's of any good anymore.

-OK.

-Yeah? Our kennel manager is brilliant with them.

He treats them like his own dogs.

Both the seized animals will be taken away to a secret location,

where PC Pennell will decide if they are illegal pit bull type dogs.

The helicops have just received an urgent call.

A man has been reported missing.

He's young and vulnerable and could be in danger.

According to Jeff, he's slight build...

Response police are already on the ground looking for him.

The lower crossing, yeah?

But in the dark, they need the helicopter's night vision camera

to assist in their search.

..those trees is the railway line.

We want to be going down to the right, to look for him.

November Lima Six Five to Whisky Oscar Nine Nine.

Six Five, I think if we can confirm we've only got the one person on the railway.

Have we got any police officers on the railway?

We've got somebody in sight now.

There's two Kilo Delta units.

There's one male, who is chasing after the boy,

who wanted to harm himself,

and a member of the public now's just come onto the line, as well.

RADIO: Roger. Over.

Whisky Oscar Nine Nine, it's quite urgent.

We've got somebody on the railway.

The helicops need to work out who is who on the railway line

and with the missing person's family joining in the search,

the situation is becoming confusing and dangerous.

No, I'm looking off thermal.

Just up ahead of you there is a single person.

-Can you confirm you can see him.

-Yes, I can.

I believe that's the other son, who's looking for the one who's missing. Over.

Can you catch up with him and get him out of there?

Nine Nine, can you confirm you're getting our pictures, please,

just in case a train comes along?

On a Saturday night, town becomes a honey pot

for Pontypridd party people, as they come out to play.

SHOUTS

Policing the night-time economy

is part of the Neighbourhood Team's job.

The CCTV tells me every weekend, on the night, we do have people up there

using recreational drugs.

Officer Colin Price is leading tonight's drugs crackdown

and PC Jonathan Handy will be his patrolling partner.

SHOUTS

-Do you know what I mean?

-OK. All right, OK, OK.

-Do you want to calm down?

-It's her birthday.

-I know that but that's unacceptable.

-Just a bit too much, we're going now.

There's a completely different vibe tonight,

a different feeling in the air.

Whether it's drink or drugs fuelled, people act slightly differently,

so the atmosphere from the normal day job is flipped on its head.

It's not long before the CCTV cameras give the officers a tip off.

Right, guys. What's happened?

You've just been filmed by CCTV snorting, what I believe to be,

a white powder behind Tesco's.

On the basis of what they've just told us,

it gives us grounds to search you under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

-Keep still.

-Keep hold of it, because I don't want to break it.

-So what was it? Cocaine?

-Yeah, yeah.

Is there any more on you? Let's have a look, then.

So, you work with school children and you're snorting cocaine?

Not exactly the role model we want, is it?

Be very grateful I found nothing on you, because the impact that would have had

on your job and your lifestyle would have been massive.

I am sorry.

They haven't got any more on them. It was only the one bag they have.

As far as we're concerned, there's nothing we can do.

They're not in possession of the drug although they've inhaled the drug.

The neighbourhood officers are on the lookout

for any drunken behaviour or fights that may happen at kicking-out time.

Get it, get it.

No!

And for PC Price, Saturday night is always a sobering experience.

Well, my oldest is nearly 17 and I'm absolutely petrified.

You know, the age of some of these out tonight is...

My daughter looks older than them.

Hey! Put that away.

And I've just seen you urinating on the floor, with the stream of urine coming out.

Don't treat me as stupid, OK.

Nice one, thank you.

You could be arrested for it. A stupid thing to do.

Do you know why I'm taking this so personally?

-Yeah, it's inappropriate.

-No, I eat here during my day job.

-So, I'm not impressed.

-That's far from... Yeah.

-OK?

That's my tolerance level now getting quite low.

I'm cold, I'm tired and I'm fed up with drunken people.

High in the night sky, the helicops are continuing the search

for the missing person.

PC Nick Kane needs to point the response officers on the ground

in the right direction.

Whisky Oscar Nine Nine to the officers on the railway.

Can you put your hands up wide, so I can establish I've got you, please?

-He's coming back towards them.

-Right.

We've got the first person just about 100 metres in front of you.

Now we've got another person, who's meeting up with him now

on the other railway to your right, they're meeting up together.

About 200 metres in front of you.

Yeah, noted. I'm looking at five on the line the moment.

I can't tell now. I'll be up there as soon as I can.

OK, it looks like they're making up now,

so he looks as if he's been forgiven for all his sins.

They're not moving.

-So, it looks all in order.

-Yeah, marvellous.

I'll see you, over.

Right, it's all in order, as long as no trains come along.

The trains are on stop, aren't they?

OK, that's great. All officers are on their way back to the rail station,

if you could wait for them.

Whisky Oscar Nine Nine, we're on our way back.

Roger, Nine Nine, thanks for your assistance for that.

On a daily basis, we go searching for missing, vulnerable people

who are threatening to harm, hurt themselves.

Some people who are desperately wanting to harm themselves genuinely,

for various reasons, and others who genuinely want some help.

It's a cry for help and they want some attention.

Unfortunately, it's going to the police or to emergency services

looking for that help.

At a secure kennels in Wales,

it's judgement day for the dogs seized by Officer Pennell.

The first thing we look at in the confirmation, is the dog square.

That is, is he as tall, as wide?

22.5.

As you can see, this dog does appear square.

Although he's a little bit upset, you can see that in him,

in his demeanour.

What we're looking at here is the masseter muscles here.

These are all about the fighting dog's ability for biting.

As you can see they're well developed,

nice strong neck, long neck.

Again that's all about the fighting dog's reach, when they're fighting another dog.

I'm not saying this dog has been used in dog fighting,

however, that's the pit bull-type confirmation.

In my view, he is a pit bull-type dog.

There are genuine people out there who believe

that they've got a large, Staff-type dog.

So they honestly believe,

"Oh, my God, this little Staff Bull Terrier I've just bought

"has now grown up to a large dog."

They don't understand what pit bulls are,

until someone gets attacked by a pit bull-type dog.

Officer Pennell decided both animals were illegal pit bull-types

and their owners were prosecuted.

But the dogs were allowed to return home, as long their owners complied

to a strict list of rules and conditions.

In Pontypridd, PC Price is making his way down to the River Taff.

Where are they? All right, lovely.

He's calling in on the council workers who've responded to his request

to block off access to the drug den.

Is it going right up tight to that? And the other side?

Oh, to the drop? Oh, excellent.

I am really pleased with that.

They've obviously realised how dangerous this area is

and what a health hazard it is.

In doing so, they've secured the funding really quickly,

so I'm really pleased with it.

It's going to make a huge difference, as well

with regards to the needles, the health hazard,

all that sort of stuff.

It is that cliche, you are making that difference.

So that is really good and it's a difference to the town centre,

so I am pleased about that.

Neighbourhood police officers each have their own little patch in which they serve

and, for PC Jonathan Handy, being out on the beat is important.

How are you? All right? How's it going?

Been doing a bit of shopping, have you?

It's traditional policing and the public like to see it.

It's one of the best parts of neighbourhood policing.

You actually get to get out in the community,

it's a bit different from being stuck in a panda car chasing people with blue lights.

Nice to get out and have a chat with people and see what's happening out on the street.

It's, you know, they always say we don't see a bobby on the beat,

but you can see us on the bus.

The initial reaction is, "They're coming for me, what have I done wrong?"

"Will we be arrested on the bus?"

But once they see we're just on the bus to have a chat, they relax then.

-Thanks for that. See you again.

-Ta-ra.

-Cheers.

This morning, Jonathan is visiting Pontypridd's Mission for the Deaf.

They have been teaching him how to sign.

Hello. Hello. Everything OK? Fantastic.

J-O-NA...

..erm, T-HA-N.

-Jonathan.

-Very good.

-Was that OK?

-HE LAUGHS

There's part of the community out there don't really use the police,

because we're not really that accessible to them,

so it's vital we do work like this, just to keep those links going.

And it's great fun coming here. They're fabulous people.

Before, there was no way of understanding people.

But now, the police here in Pontypridd sign.

It's better now in Pontypridd. Much better.

I just want to say to everyone,

thank you for coming here to see me today.

Thank you.

Just basically, helping people is the main motivation for me.

Some people, it's catching criminals.

I tend to want to help the good guy, type of thing.

Thank you.

Perfect! Thank you.

Last year in Wales, over 300 people were attacked by dogs.

The consequences of being bitten by an animal can be life changing.

Hello.

Hiya. PC Walter Purnell. Dog Legislation Officer.

I spoke to you on the phone earlier.

Today, Walter is visiting eight-year-old Caitlin,

who was savaged by a dog in the street.

Hiya, Caitlin. How are you?

-Did the dog frighten you that day?

-Yes.

Yeah, it's not nice, is it? She's very lucky, in fact.

She could have lost an eye. That's how close it was.

When I saw the hole there. It was that close.

The dog has been destroyed, so it's been taken out of the community.

-Which is the most important thing.

-That's right.

Because, unfortunately, it's happened to Caitlin.

It will not happen again, hopefully.

And we couldn't say it wasn't going to happen again.

So at least that's been sorted out.

I had to go in the ambulance to the hospital.

Are you feeling better now?

I tell you what, perhaps we'll organise,

and you can come down to the kennels and have a look at the police dogs?

-Would you like that?

-You'd like that, wouldn't you?

-Yeah?

And perhaps bring your family down and have a look? Yeah?

Because we've got lots and lots of police dogs.

Some are used to bite people, because they need to.

But there's others who will just play games.

They like playing hide and seek, with a ball.

-Thank you, Gareth, for your time.

-No problem.

-We'll be in touch.

Any time you need to contact me, you can ring me.

-And I'll return the phone call, as soon as I can.

-No problem.

Caitlin, bye.

The dog that attacked Caitlin was not an illegal type

and the police are still working on the case.

PC Purnell has to get back to his job of investigating dangerous dogs.

A lot of people don't understand

that these dogs are quite human-loving type dogs.

But unfortunately, when they do turn, they don't stop biting

and they'll quite happily kill anything that they are biting.

And that's the whole point of the Dog Legislation Officer,

is to seize and get these dogs before the courts.

In Pontypridd, the neighbourhood team are planning a raid.

There is a warrant being issued for an address in Pontypridd,

where we believe an offence has taken place,

under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Possession offences and also possession with intent to supply.

PC Handy is briefing and Officer Price is part of the team.

Customers include schoolchildren,

so this is somebody we need to take out.

He's one of our divisional priorities.

Let's rock and roll.

The suspect is potentially violent and, for extra protection,

Jonathan has drafted in the Tactical Support Team.

Police! Police!

SHOUTING

-Mike, are you all right?

-Yes, all right.

-What have we got upstairs?

-One female.

-One female, yeah?

A female officer.

The main target of the raid isn't home.

I'll secure the door.

Anything else in the car? In the bags?

Nothing in there.

But officers continue to search every possible hiding place

in the house, for a stash of drugs.

There we are. Cannabis.

In the main, what we've got is a small piece of cannabis bush,

here on this tray.

Just there.

This, as far as I'm aware, looks like part of a bong,

which again is used in the taking of drugs.

The woman in the house was cautioned for possession of cannabis

and Valium, but was not suspected of dealing.

I feel any result is a good result, in terms of community impact.

Everyone has seen us going to the address, from the local community.

So they know that we're onto the drugs problem in the area

and we are taking action.

We have recovered a small quantity of cannabis and some Valium tablets.

So any drugs taken off the street is a positive result.

And I think we've had a dramatic effect on the female herself.

She's quite shaken up.

So I think it will make her think twice about dabbling in drugs

in the future.

The main target of the raid may have got away this time,

but the neighbourhood team are watching.

Next time on Police 24/7...

Officers call time on a pub in Merthyr Tydfil...

SHARP KNOCKING

This is as bad as it gets, in a public house.

In the custody suites, the cleaners are fighting grime...

Sometimes it's best not to try and overthink it. Just clean it.

..and the mounted police get into the swing of things

at Porthcawl's Elvis Festival.

# Because I love you too much, baby! #

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd