Episode 4 Police 24/7

This time on Police 24/7:

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

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

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

Sometimes it's best to try and not 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... #

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.

In the Rhondda Valley, PCs Steve White and Rachel O'Donnell

are responding to a 999 call.

Yeah, we're heading towards Tonypandy anyway, we'll have a look at that caller.

Bar staff informed a customer that he'd had enough to drink,

but when the officers arrive, the man is nowhere to be found.

Was he blotto?

Yeah, and he grabbed a chair on the way out, launched it over there, smashed the spindles...

And then we were trying to shut the doors after we asked him to leave,

cos he was offering all the boys on and that.

-White jumper... Trousers?

-Yeah, dark blue jeans. Dark hair.

-All right, then, we'll give you a bell.

-Cheers! Ta-ra!

And so the officers start their manhunt.

What we going to do now, we're just having a look around,

cos we've been given a description,

and see if we can find him and arrest him for criminal damage.

He's wearing a white woolly jumper with black buttons on it

and dark coloured trousers.

Could you keep your eye out for him

and give me a shout if you see him?

He could be anywhere. It's one of those.

If we don't find him in the next quarter of an hour, 20 minutes,

our best bet is to try his house later

and hope he's gone home to bed, or get him another day.

Cardiff Bay Police Station.

Home to one of the largest custody suites in the UK.

Working in the capital city cells, a custody sergeant must be

ready for anything coming through the doors.

Are you going to do anything silly in the cell today?

-Have I got to take my trousers off?

-Well, it depends, doesn't it?

Have you got any strings on there?

Sergeant Hywel Morgan is starting his shift.

Right then, Roger. Did you miss the reason why you've been arrested?

To be honest with you, erm, yes and no.

OK, reason I've got is, you've been verbally abusive to the door staff,

tried to punch out at the door staff...

-What's the injury to your mouth, mate?

-I don't know.

Do you want to just turn your lip inside-out for us?

-It's nothing serious.

-Just a bit of a fat lip, is it? Yeah.

Did he tell you what force was used to restrain him before he arrived?

Detained on the ground, handcuffed, strapped and placed in a cage.

-You guys strapped him, yeah?

-Yeah.

-OK, how long was he strapped for?

Five minutes.

He's quite a thickset guy and it took seven officers to put him

in the back of the van, apparently,

so you might have seen a different side to him if he'd have

continued with that conduct, but once he's calm, he's quite a nice guy.

HE SLURS

I guess we see all sorts of society, don't we?

You get nice, pleasant people in, who you're quite empathetic with

and then you get people who for 24 hours,

or even 36 hours, they're a complete wild animal...

Best place for some of them is in here.

With 60 cells holding lots of reluctant visitors,

custody cleaners Jackie and Leslie are always busy.

This is a bit like the Jaws film, you know that sound,

because you don't know what you're coming into.

JAWS THEME

We need some lights on, I know that.

That doesn't really look too pleasant,

I wouldn't be too sure about that one.

But we've got stuff to clean it, anyway.

We've not been made aware of anything going on, you know,

any goings-on during the evening, but you never know!

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

Cos I think if you find out what it is half the time,

you wouldn't do it.

So I tend not to want to know, and that way I can just get on

and do it.

And of course, even a sink, you wouldn't believe the little things you find in sinks.

Faeces, in the sink. I thought it was hot chocolate and it wasn't. Eurgh!

It wasn't good. I didn't like it at all.

-She thought it was funny, I didn't.

-This is where the fun comes in!

THEY LAUGH

South Wales Police have a four-legged weapon in the fight against crime.

The mounted police.

PCs Steve Durrani and Lisa Brown are en-route to Porthcawl.

Tonight, officer Durrani and Rubin

will be policing the annual Elvis Festival.

He wants to know if he's on time-and-a-half at the moment.

Working so late in the night, extra oats for him in the morning.

Saddled up, the officers ride into town.

With thousands of Elvis fans expected to be all shook up,

officer Durrani enters the party spirit.

# Caught in a trap

# I can't walk out

# Because I love you too much baby... #

Wherever the mounted police patrol, they always attract attention.

Brilliant, hello, boy.

-You had a good time?

-Yeah, lovely night.

-Been here before?

-No.

-Our first time, first time.

-We enjoyed it.

-I enjoyed it.

Best attraction here!

But it's not long into his shift,

and officer Durrani's suspicious mind has spotted something.

Has anyone got a torch on them?

Leave them there, I'll bag 'em now.

-I've got two on me, Chris. How many have we got there?

-One, two...

-Yeah.

That white bag's got to do something with it, I reckon.

Right, possibly a Class A drug, something like a sulphate,

I believe, but we might get it field-tested now.

So we've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

-Haven't been long on shift.

-No, we've been on five minutes, isn't it?

Having found some suspected drugs,

it's back to the original job of the night -

safely controlling the crowd.

# I'm all shook up, uh-huh-huh... #

Obviously, this is the place where people are being picked up,

just in case people are going to fight over taxis, etc,

so just monitoring the crowd at the moment.

Can you tell me an old horse story? Go on. Tell me.

They love the horses, and it's good, cos they defuse situations sometimes, as well.

People will be up here, and before you know it,

they see the horses and they come right back down.

They're a good tool.

In the Rhondda, officers White and O'Donnell have identified the man

in the pub fracas and they have had a tip-off as to his whereabouts.

-I need a hand. Can you come over the Welcome Inn for me?

-'What's the problem?'

This Craig Summers, apparently is in the Welcome Inn,

so we're going to try and arrest him now while we can, while we know where he is.

But obviously, we're going to be entering licensed premises,

everybody's going to be jolly drunk, so I wouldn't mind a bit of back-up.

'Yeah, stand by.'

The problem is, we're going to have a bar full of intoxicated persons

and we're going to try and arrest someone who is also drunk

and in an aggressive state, and it's a recipe for disaster.

Or a bit of fun, whichever way you look at it.

We've come to possibly lock up a lad we think is in here.

Oh, the boy in the white T-shirt? I saw him about ten minutes ago.

-Oh, did you see which way they went?

-I wouldn't have a clue.

Sugar, just missed him, then.

They left about ten minutes ago, no direction of travel.

We'll drive straight back up through Pandy,

and then we'll do some more of the side streets.

-He's obviously about.

-'I don't think there is anything at the moment'.

KNOCK ON DOOR

With no sign of Craig on the streets, it's time to check at his mam's house.

Hi, you all right? Is Craig your son? Can we come in a sec, yeah?

Basically, I think they've refused him booze,

because he looked a bit aggressive.

Craig, get hold of me straight away, and I mean it. Ta-ra.

Through to voicemail, is it? Yeah. Right, OK.

He is going to need to be spoken to. If you don't find him tonight,

we're going to have to keep knocking the door until we find him.

If you do speak to him before we do, tell him

to go to the police station in Ton Pentre and hand himself in.

He's old enough to know better.

In Cardiff Bay Police Station, some of the more vocal occupants

in custody are making their presence felt to cleaners Jackie and Leslie.

He's not very happy.

When they're like that, you don't really like to acknowledge them,

but if they try talking to you,

-they get nasty if you don't answer them.

-Yeah.

-So we normally tiptoe out of here quietly.

Arriving in custody is a female detainee who's been arrested

and has mental health issues.

Sergeant Hywel Morgan wants the female officers to try

and persuade the woman to wear rip-proof clothing for her own safety.

Got the benefit of CCTV on the wing, so just monitoring it, really.

Two female members of staff and an inspector on tonight,

so the three of them have got their hands full.

It's quite hard to restrain someone without hurting them, really.

SHOUTING

Sergeant Morgan has to deal with detainees like this

on an increasingly regular basis.

Most shifts, we get people in here who've got mental health issues,

every shift varying from depression to severe psychotic illnesses.

Unfortunately, the hospitals can't accept them

when they're intoxicated, so they come here as a place of safety.

Maybe disturbing for them that they've got to come to a police station,

into a cell, when in all intents and purposes,

they haven't really done anything wrong.

It can aggravate their mental condition and how they behave,

but we've got to try and deal the best we can.

At Mounted Police HQ, officer Durrani is preparing Rubin for another shift.

I enjoy riding, but I get a certain pleasure out of actually

grooming the horse. It's quite therapeutic.

Obviously, when they're groomed, you see the finished work,

it's a bit like polishing a car, in some ways.

Each horse has got its own character.

Rubin can be quite bolshy, but he'll do anything for food.

A bit like me, really.

Absolutely adores his food.

It's been Steve's career ambition to be part of this elite

division in the force.

I applied in '95 and wasn't successful

and then there was a mission to get on the department, applied then

in '97, '98, 2000,

and the standing joke was if I could ride Shergar in alive,

I possibly could get on the department.

But through perseverance, I got on here, I think it was 2008,

I got on the department, and never looked back.

Today, officer Durrani and PC Sian Smith

are patrolling the busy streets of the capital city.

-Is he warm?

-Yeah, he's been walking for three hours. He's a bit sweaty.

Make sure that child's belted up in the back, as well.

From their unique vantage point,

they have spotted someone breaking the law.

We need you to pull up. No seat belt and a child, three no seat belts.

-Turn left, pull left.

-If you turn left, follow me, sir.

-Left.

Follow me.

-Is it your wife in the back, as well?

-Yeah.

Why is she not wearing a seat belt either?

We've been driving for five minutes.

OK, it doesn't matter how far you go in the car,

you must always wear your seat belt.

He's only been driving for five minutes,

but I would query, how long does it take to have an accident?

Less than five minutes, for sure.

I've issued him with a ticket for these seat belts and given him

suitable advice.

-Have you learned your lesson that you wear your seat belt now?

-Yes.

-You definitely will?

-Yes. It's true. Thank you very much.

OK, let's go.

In the Rhondda, PC Steve White has had a breakthrough in the search

for the man wanted for damage at a local pub.

Yeah, tell him to wait by there. We'll go straight to Domino's now.

It appears my colleague's got hold of our suspect Craig Summers in Tonypandy.

Having handed himself in, Craig seems keen to get things sorted.

-So you knew you was going to come down to the nick with us?

-Yeah.

You'll have to go in the cage, all right?

Policing in the Rhondda is a unique experience for Officer White.

When I first got posted in the Rhondda, I thought,

"You're having a laugh!"

I thought it was like a film set from The Hills Have Eyes.

But fortunately, I've come to love it.

I wouldn't work anywhere else now.

I love the people.

For all the stereotypes, it's a great place to work.

At Ton Pentre Police Station, it's time for Craig

to explain his drunken antics.

Have a seat over by there for us.

The allegation is you, in a temper over not being served, picked up

a bar chair, you've thrown it across the bar, which has hit the spindles,

broken them, bounced off and it's then hit the picture on the wall.

Do you remember that happening?

-So you can't remember.

-I was ruined.

What do you mean by "ruined"?

-I was smashed, drunk, like.

-Drunk?

Unfortunately in the eyes of the law, drunkenness isn't an excuse.

How do you feel about your actions?

Gutted.

I've got no further questions, then.

Craig now regrets going out last night.

Stupid, isn't it.

That's what drink does to you!

INTERVIEWER: How are you feeling now?

Still hungover.

I just want to go back to my bed, and get some water down me.

Craig apologised to the landlord of the pub,

and he later appeared in court, where he was fined £365.

In Aberdare, Sergeant Richie Gardiner is preparing to go to work.

As well as being a police officer, he's also one of Wales's top runners.

I've been running since I was nine, so I was a runner long before this job.

What stuck out to me in my early service days

when I was chasing people a lot on foot

is how many of them would want to, amongst their friends,

tell you a story when they had run away from you,

and none of these stories are true! But they were, "I got away from you."

He's like Spartacus. And it's like, "No, you didn't!"

Officer Gardiner has won six Welsh Marathon titles

and a Commonwealth award in long-distance running.

Most days he runs the five miles

from home to his office in Merthyr Tydfil.

Welcome and thanks everybody for attending on Operation Banquet.

Today he's briefing his team on a special operation -

targeting the issues of underage drinking.

Kelv, we've got a young person coming in this evening looking to

purchase alcohol from the premises where we've had intelligence

that they're selling to underage people

and again if they do that,

we will be dealing with that swiftly and positively.

More than a third of under-16s in Wales

admit to drinking alcohol regularly.

Sergeant Gardiner and his team are determined

to tackle the problem on their patch.

We are now mobile and we would be looking for an RV point with you

when convenient, mate.

What's occurring, buddy?

Sarge. How are you? So far so good.

Obviously we haven't got positive results but they are positive

in that they're asking for ID, checking age,

and if they're not happy, they're not serving.

So the message is getting through.

We'll go up, up towards the estate and the rugby area.

If you get a positive, Kelv...

Straight away. OK. Lovely.

Thanks.

In Cardiff, mounted police officer Steve Durrani...

Come out.

..has spotted a van driver taking risks on the road.

I have seen you on your mobile phone. On the roads here. OK?

You're under caution and you do not have to say anything,

however it may harm your defence now if you mention something

which you later rely on in court.

Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?

Whose vehicle is it?

-Working.

-You're just working?

-Yeah.

So it's not your vehicle?

I'm not working.

-You're working?

-Yeah.

Do you own this vehicle? Is this yours? Have you paid for it?

Simple question. Have you paid for it?

You must have some identification on you.

Have you got a driving licence?

You must have something like a bank card?

In the house.

-Nothing on you?

-My jacket.

OK, you have a look in your jacket.

What address is he giving us?

Nothing yet.

Well, can he give us an address where he lives?

That would be nice. Who's that?

Uh?

Who's this person. Is this you?

If we don't believe you saying who you are, we can arrest you.

You can come to the police station. If we do not believe you.

-It's very important. You must know where you live.

-I am my address.

Your address. Not the company address. YOUR address.

Steve thinks the man is pretending to not understand him,

and suspects he's hiding something.

He's not really communicating or co-operating with us,

so I think the question is, we'll have to bring him into custody

because I have got a gut feeling that he possibly is illegal.

The man later pleaded guilty to driving offences.

And Officer Durrani's gut instinct was bang on.

With no right to be in the UK, the man was ordered to return to India.

But he skipped bail and is currently on the run.

In Merthyr Tydfil, Sergeant Gardiner's operation

into underage alcohol sales continues.

'Sergeant. Number one Licensing Officer with a positive -

'repeat positive - test purchase.'

A 15-year-old test purchaser has been able to buy strong lager,

and Licensing Officer Kelvin Jones has the evidence.

All right, Kelv. What have we got, guys?

What we've got is a straightforward sale, Sarge.

There's a single lady making the sale.

Hasn't asked for any ID, any age.

No due diligence as far as we're concerned.

Apparently she was talking about the weather. So the guy's paid for it.

Walked out. It's as simple as that.

What's happened about five minutes ago,

we've sent a test purchase operator in, who's aged 15 years of age,

you've made a sale, basically. He's described who was in here.

Is there anybody else working here?

No. Just you. OK.

I'm quite happy that you've made the sale, yeah.

I did, yeah.

-Them are the items.

-Yeah.

The guy himself, as I say,

he's 15 years of age, and for what he tells me...

I didn't ask him, no, I didn't.

15 years of age, unacceptable.

My daughter's only 15.

What I propose to do, I intend giving you a fixed penalty.

It's a fixed penalty for £80.

Don't upset yourself.

At the end of the day, that is it as far as we're concerned. OK?

Don't upset yourself too much about it. All right? OK.

All right. No problem.

Once a store is known for selling alcohol, it becomes a honeypot,

and you get young people catching buses from other communities

into an area to all have a bit of it,

and whereas it turns from five, ten young people,

20, 30 young people, and then we've got a real problem on our hands,

and it causes real distress to the communities that that shop is selling to.

Over 17,000 detainees came into South Wales Police custody suites

last year, and it's a constant battle against crime and grime

for cleaners like Jackie and Leslie.

These are the holding cells so when they bring a detainee in,

they're left in here for a short length of time,

until they actually book them in,

and in the short length of time they're in here,

you wouldn't believe the mess they can make in a holding cell!

We even tell them off for putting their feet on the walls.

You wouldn't do that at home, don't do it here.

They don't take any notice.

Another detainee is booking in for a stay

with Custody Sergeant Hywel Morgan.

-What's the offence?

-Shoplifting.

-OK.

And when searching his clothing,

recovered a quantity of cannabis resin in his jacket pocket.

Are we all done? Are we ready to interview or..?

I can go into interview with him.

That's fine, OK. Yeah.

It's been an OK shift, really. For a Sunday, a little bit busy.

And I had a bit of a late lunch.

Whether you call it an early breakfast, I'm not sure,

but there's 40 minutes to go till home-time

and then four days off, so I guess I can't wait now.

And Leslie and Jackie are keen to finish too.

Sorry, guys, I'm coming that way so if you want to move,

you'd better hurry up.

Sorry, Sarge. Can you just...? Sorry, darling.

There you go.

And as one sergeant's shift finishes, another starts.

..you will be kept in custody.

You'll be placed before the next available court,

which is first thing in the morning.

The reason for it is to prevent you committing further offence...

The custody suite is always open for business, 24/7.

Also nearing the end of their shift is elite athlete

Sergeant Richie Gardiner, and PC Kelvin Jones.

He should know better as a runner, but his habits are just as bad.

If I had a job where I could just sit around and plan my food all day,

I'd still have chips.

There's only so much healthy food you can eat, isn't it.

LAUGHTER

But soon the team are called back out on to the streets of Merthyr,

following up a tip-off about possible underage drinking at a pub.

The officers have to act fast, ensuring all exits are covered.

BANGING ON DOOR

-Stay on the door over there!

-OK.

Guys, I want IDs off you all.

Those of you who've got ID on you, can you get your IDs out, please?

All of these guys in here now, a lot of these appear to be underage.

Stay put! That's all we are asking!

Do you understand that we've got a serious breach of regulations

here tonight? Yeah?

I just couldn't see what was going on.

If they come to the bar and they were having Cokes...

You haven't got just two or three in here tonight, have you?

That indicates to me you haven't been using due diligence.

They're not from my area.

I don't care what area they're from. Ultimately, they haven't been checked.

You've been serving them alcohol. We're happy with 18-year-olds.

It is someone's 18th birthday, see.

Oh, it's an 18th birthday party now, is it?

If it goes on Facebook, you can't help it.

I wouldn't say you've got control over this premises tonight.

-When I point at you, just tell me your age.

-17.

Ultimately, you guys are not entitled to be in a pub

drinking alcohol. Does that make sense? Yeah?

This is as bad as it gets in a public house

because 16 and 17-year-olds getting tanked up, going out on the streets,

who knows what they're going to do to each other, other people,

and the community at large as well. So it's a concern.

We're on top of it but it shouldn't be going on.

Out of the 80 people counted out of the pub...

Come on then, guys! Move on!

..59 were underage.

It'll be hard to prove whether or not they were drinking alcohol,

but this pub is now on the radar of Sergeant Gardiner and his team.

You get your good days, you get your bad days.

Personalities make your job, don't they,

and if you're working with good people, you know,

you're happy and I'm happy as long as they keep my team together - please!

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