Policing a night of fancy dress
What’s it like being a police officer on Halloween, when all manner of fancy-dressed revellers hit the streets? ROBERT DALLING goes out on patrol
IT’S a scene of horror in Wind Street in Swansea. The undead roam freely. But, everyone is also having a pretty good time - it’s Halloween night after all.
Then the mood changes and suddenly it’s not quite as much fun anymore.
That’s what can happen in the blink of an eye on any given night in the city’s party capital.
And on October 31, student night to boot, one of the busiest evenings of the year in Wind Street, it’s almost a certainty.
And we were there to witness it all first-hand on a Halloween night out with South Wales Police.
Our evening began accompanying constables James Truscott and Ceriann Howell.
As it hammered down with rain, we made our way to Wind Street, before finding a whole range of costumed characters running in all directions to avoid the wet weather and find shelter.
From cowboys to sharks, skeletons and the characters from the film “White Chicks”, you were likely to see anything you could imagine from the world of TV and cinema all in one street.
“I think I’d go as Wednesday Addams, or possibly Maleficent,” PC Howells joked as we made our way along the street.