Darlington Police: 24 hours in the life of town's force

Nick Gullon:

7am: Morning Briefing. Officers are informed of incidents from overnight and they also set out their plans for the day. Concerns were raised for a number of vulnerable females in the town to look out for, as well as handful of priority arrests and the most wanted for the day.

7.30am: An introduction to the Red Sigma system – the police’s database which gives all the information they need for the day, included most wanted and missing from homes, and also allows them to search information about people on their database. Police also confirm there are four people in custody from overnight, and three of them will be appearing in court this morning.

8.00am: It is a quiet morning on the crime front so I am given an insight into the work the police do with mental health patients, as well as a tour of the custody suites.

8.45am: The force holds its daily crime progression meeting, which sees the intelligence, CID, response and neighbourhood team come together to discuss tactics for the day. They agree on the criminals they are going after that day as well as discussing emerging trends from the last 24 hours and set the scene for the next 24 hours.

9.00am: I spend the next 90 minutes with officers as they begin their tasks for the day and complete paperwork before they go out on jobs.

10.30am: The response team is sent out to check on an elderly man after receiving some information from a concerned neighbour about his welfare. He is found safe and well in his property.

11am: Officers visit a victim of domestic abuse case to keep her updated on the police’s current investigation. They also visit the victim’s dental practice to obtain her medical records as she may require dental work as a result of her injuries.

11.30am: Officers take a man who was in custody to Darlington Memorial Hospital after he claimed he has taken two packs of diazepam. He is checked over by a doctor and refuses to have his blood taken. He is returned to the cells at Darlington Police Station – not before urinating in the back of the police van and banging constantly from inside.

1pm: Police catch their most wanted suspect of the day outside The Northern Echo’s Priestgate offices. He was wanted for breaching bail conditions and being involved in a range of burglaries.

1.30pm: Deborah Lonsdale explains her role to me within Darlington’s CID department. “We deal with the most serious of crimes – vehicle crime, theft of motor vehicle, burglary, sexual offences etc. The most common things in Darlington at the moment are theft from motor vehicle, burglary and anti social behaviour in the town. It tends to increase at Christmas and there is a little spike over Christmas with shop thefts, but other things peak at different times. In October I saw two deaths in two days – you always go home and reflect – you are still a human being at the end of the day but you are also still professional."

2pm: Vicki Cubby of the safeguarding department explains her role within force and the importance they place on protecting Christmas.

Joanna Morris

3pm: Acting insp Laura Barker and acting sergeant Martin Dauber are completing paperwork as they prepare to finish for the day and hand over to a new shift beginning at 3pm.

4.30pm: Insp Brian McCarthy comes back into the office after delivering mental health training to colleagues elsewhere. He shows me around the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub, based within Darlington Police Station. The hub allows the police to work alongside other agencies, such as social services, to help coordinate an appropriate response when dealing with vulnerable people, children in care, domestic violence, sex work, etc.

It's quiet at this time of day but DS Michelle Bostock is still hard at work, almost an hour after she should have finished. She says joined up working allows for teams from different authorities to share information and intelligence in a way that provides a stronger safety net and often, a faster resolution to whatever issues arise.

5pm: Back shift briefing, and the town centre beat team head out on patrol.

6pm: A dispersal order will come into place at 7pm around High Row and the Cornmill Centre as the force works to tackle anti-social behaviour issues, including youngsters congregating and causing a nuisance and beggars persistently returning to spots outside cash machines where they can make up to £200 a day.

7.30pm: I have a meal break but most officers will eat on duty or at their desks, if at all. Some of those I meet throughout the shift say they are so busy that they often forget that they haven't eaten, with others saying it's a real struggle to keep properly hydrated. There are reminder signs in the station's toilet cubicles, advising officers how important it is to keep up a good fluid intake.

8pm: The night-time economy team are briefed as they come onto duty. They will work until 4am and will concentrate on the town centre. They are informed about the dispersal order and Operation Speedball, which sees officers told to look after those in genuine need. The officers are warned to keep wrapped up as the temperatures are plummeting, told to keep their body cameras on during any disputes and to be careful not to slip on the ice outside.

As they prepare to head out into the town centre, one officer says: "Tonight could be really boring or absolute bedlam, depending on who is out and what they've stuck up their noses."

8.30pm: I'm patrolling the town centre in the force's 'crew bus' with Sergeant Peter Hoole, who says the high visibility vehicle is a great deterrent. He does laps of the town throughout the evening.

9.45pm: We are called to reports of a man damaging cars and being drunk and disorderly in the King's Head Hotel car park. He is vomiting in the car park and is arrested after shouting and swearing at officers.

10.50pm: Back on foot patrol, where revellers are in advanced states of intoxication. Everyone wants to chat with the officers, with people regularly asking to try on their hats and pose for photos. One officer says: "At least we haven't had any pregnant women asking if they can pee into our helmets yet. It's an ancient myth that says they can but it's not true – and our helmets have holes in them, anyway."

Julia Breen

11.10pm: We hear on the radio there's been an arrest in the town centre for drunk and disorderly, and suspicion of criminal damage.

11.30pm: A drink-driver is arrested on Northgate and is now in the custody suite, but on the way he took a dislike to one of the police officers and started 'kicking off'. It takes several officers to get him out of the van and into the cells.

Our van is now in the town centre, parked at the junction of Houndgate and Skinnergate, near Ziggy's van. This can be a flashpoint for trouble in the town centre, with many Christmas revellers coming out of bars into the same small area of town.

Midnight: We hear on the radio a report of a young woman in another part of the town assaulting a man and threatening to get people to petrol bomb his house. She had come home drunk and started 'throwing her weight around'.

12.10am: Darlington Police get a call from a CCTV company in the south saying a man in dark clothing has been trying to break into a property on Skinnergate. The property is checked and the police check all the alleys around it. When the CCTV is checked it turns out there is nothing.

OKAY: A police officer checks on a beggar Picture: JULIA BREEN

12.17am: A homeless man is slumped in a doorway on Houndgate. Sgt Peter Hoole says he looks like he's breathing but jumps out just to check on him. He's fine.

12.25am: On the radio there are reports of youths drinking and climbing up scaffolding on North Road. A squad car is sent to check.

12.30am: Inspector Dave Barker gets a strong whiff of cannabis as he stands next to the police van. It's someone talking to the homeless man. The inspector asks him to put it out. It's not worth being heavy-handed as long as the man does as he's asked, he says.

1.05am: We're called to the Joseph Pease on Tubwell Row to reports of a man causing a disturbance. It's busy outside. Police get out to speak to him and issue a dispersal order. He tries to put the order in the bin. He's got 15 minutes to leave the town centre and not return for 24 hours.

1.15am: A report comes in over the radio of two children being assaulted in a domestic incident. We see a squad car race up Yarm Road with its blue lights on. It turns out the man, who did have a history of domestic violence, had shouted at the children but there was no assault. The incident will be followed up with child protection.

1.30am: As we pass an alleyway near the Feethams multi-storey car park officers spot a group of young men acting suspiciously. Sgt Hoole manoeuvres the van down the narrow alleyway and officers jump out to speak to them. They give a story of a fight in nearby Inside Out which they took outside. They promise to move on.

1.40am: We return to the Joseph Pease to check the dispersal order man has moved on. He's still there, worse for wear, running into the street. He is threatened with arrest and leaves. While we're there a woman, significantly under the influence, becomes upset and tearful making accusations some door staff elsewhere had asked her to remove her trousers. However details are sketchy. Police try to speak to her to glean more information but she seems confused and most insistent she doesn't want to make a report.

1.45am: An older woman with plaits in her hair smashes a bottle into the road just before the police van drives past. We stop and police have words with her. She apologises and moves on.

1.50am: We drive past two officers on foot. A women is trying to remove the hat of one of the male officers, saying she is entitled to urinate in it because she is pregnant. Sgt Hoole says helmets cost £50 and the force definitely wouldn't look kindly on officers allowing people to urinate in them.

1.50am: We're outside Inside Out and a man is slumped on the floor. Officers check he is okay but he's just really, really drunk. He's gently encouraged to go home. I wouldn't like to be him in the morning.

2am: We blue light it to Harveys on Houndgate after on-foot officers report a woman being drunk and disorderly and she is arrested and taken back to the custody suite.

2.40am: We're back out in the town centre, and blue light it to reports of a fight near Coral bookmakers on Skinnergate, with pushing and shoving in the street. There's no-one there, but a quick search of the area finds the same young men we saw near Inside Out earlier. They're told to make their way home.

2.50am: We spot a man who starts running, and search the alleyways and streets behind Duke Street and Skinnergate. We find three young men who keep running – usually a warning sign. They are stopped on Priestgate and their names and addresses taken.

3.20am: Two men are spotted running up Posthouse Wynd, but we don't find them.

3.30am-4am: We sit in the van outside Inside Out as people leave, just to check, but there is no trouble.

It's all been mostly good-natured tonight.

In the cells, there's two in for drunk and disorderly, one for drunk and disorderly and criminal damage, one for a domestic violence incident on Victoria Road, one drink driver, and two for theft and robbery. There are five youngsters missing, from care, and two have been located. There are 16 jobs on the pad – it's been a relatively quiet night.

5am: We go to the house of a man suspected of a burglary by the victim. After speaking to him at his home, Sergeant David Littlefair is pretty sure he hasn't done anything wrong. Coppers' instinct is a powerful thing.

5.30am: Back to the station. The remaining officers are filling in paperwork. It's all quiet on the Darlo front for the last two hours of the graveyard shift.