New restrictions create a whole series of different challenges for Blackpool Police trying to enforce them

Blackpool Police’s Supt Damian Kitchen, who oversees policing in the resort, admits that when the coronavirus hit the Fylde coast, no one knew what to expect and it became challenging for officers very quickly.

Speaking to the Gazette he said: “In the early stages back in March we didn’t really know what was coming and it was obviously new to everybody.

“The policing challenges soon changed very quickly because there was a national lockdown. It basically meant within a week or two of the numbers rising what we had is businesses, restaurants and bars all closing down.

“That meant that our demand shifted. Rather than dealing with the routine crime or public order and drunkenness in the town centre, it went to more anti-social behaviour with children not being at school and challenges around the homeless community in Blackpool.

“What we saw is a real drop off in standard demand, but actually a different type of demand a different type of timeframe for that coming through. Another example would be domestic abuse.

“So very quickly both the police and our health partners predicted that with people being locked in their homes more unable to go out and socialise or escape potentially abusive relationships that posed a threat to us in terms of unreported abuse in the household.”

In response to this threat, Blackpool Police created Operation Provide alongside independent domestic violence advocates (IDVAs) from Blackpool Victoria Hospital, who responded to domestic abuse reports alongside officers.

It has allowed the partnership to respond to more than 300 incidents and the operation has now been extended until April 2021.

Supt Kitchen said: “With the IDVAs working with us each day to actually provide enhanced support to people who’ve been subject to abuse in the home, it has been a phenomenal success.”

As the lockdown eased, Blackpool Police saw a gradual return to ‘standard demand’ in which pubs, bars and restaurants started to reopen and Supt Kitchen said this has become even more challenging for officers.

He said: “Everything is open, albeit to a limited capacity from 10pm at night, but we still have the economy running and as you can see here in Blackpool people are out doing their shopping which is great.

“The challenge there is that all businesses in the economy are open and actually the compliance around Covid-19 for ourselves, the public health and the local authority is that we are having to up our game around doing some education, engagement and if necessary the reinforcement around Covid, which means that when we did that in March we had no other demand or little demand and we’ve now got normal demand and the pandemic so it’s a really challenging period.”

In response to the new challenges, the police are working with Blackpool Council to introduce a warden scheme in the resort to tackle anyone who may flout the pandemic rules.

Supt Kitchen said: “What we are now trying to do is make sure that the infection rate is suppressed and stop people from spreading and catching the virus.

“What people will see over the weekends now is a warden scheme, which we trialled with Blackpool Council last weekend and had a phenomenal response.

“There will be highly visible wardens that we’re going to work with all through the weekends and into the night time economy, with a big focus on education and engagement with the public and with businesses to encourage people to be Covid-19 compliant and stay safe, and if necessary enforcement.”

Sgt Gemma Sandham works at Blackpool Police’s town centre base on Talbot Road and said housing homeless people was the first priority during lockdown.

She said: “When lockdown commenced it became a statutory obligation for local authorities to house anybody that was homeless, and that didn’t matter what town people came, the authority has an obligation to house them and obviously we did have a big job on our hands.

“Homeless people were housed in local B&Bs and hotels and we did see a rise in anti-social behaviour, not necessarily because of homeless people but generally the shift in incidents we were attending in lockdown.

“We put together a risk management meeting with other partners including the local authority, probation and health service.

“We hold that on a weekly basis in order to discuss the people in the local area, and perhaps put a support plan around them and we’re seeing that it’s really positive because not only have we got people housed on a temporary basis during lockdown what we’ve also done is work with housing authorities and got them housed on a permanent basis where relevant.

“There are people out there who choose to be homeless as a lifestyle, but to our knowledge there’s none that are without a home by choice.”

Sgt Sandham also reinforced how officers can’t predict what crimes will take place or what restrictions come are brought in.

She said: “Police officers are human beings and we’re having to adapt on our personal and a professional basis day-to-day as well. We don’t get pre-warnings of these restrictions coming or the shifts in incidents that we’re going to be attending.

“In terms of the night time economy, because we’re a town centre team, there were less incidents around pubs and clubs because they were shut and a shift towards other incidents in terms of residential properties because that’s where people were locked down to.

“Each day we review any incidents overnight and adapt to them. We look at our priorities and go from there so we could be coming into a different scenario based on the overnight incidents.”