It was a busy weekend for the Police as the Island enjoyed the last weekend before Christmas.

Between 8am on Friday morning and 8am on Monday, there were 177 calls for service logged at the Emergency Services Joint Control Room. 24 arrests were made, 15 of those being in the course of Friday night. People were detained for a wide range of offences, including possession of drugs (5), driving whilst over the prescribed limit (3) assault and public order (8) drunkenness offences (8) criminal damage (1) and possession of an offensive weapon (1).

Chief Inspector Phil Shimmin, who oversees operational policing said; “We always gear up for a busy weekend just before Christmas, and uniformed patrols were out in force, with a mix of regular and special constabulary officers. Friday night into Saturday was particularly busy, and this was the first time the extra capacity the new custody facility provided was really tested.

A number of people were charged and will be appearing in court shortly, whereas others have been bailed pending further enquiries into their cases.

I’d like to take the opportunity to publicly thank the officers who were out over the busy weekend for their hard work. We won’t be stepping down our vigilance and focus on keeping people safe over the rest of the holidays, and I’d ask people to keep the drink safe – drive safe – go safe message at the forefront of their minds.”