Western Morning News (Saturday)
Quiet night as revellers stay in
DEVON and Cornwall police had an unusually quiet New Year’s Eve across most of the South West – as closed pubs due to coronavirus restrictions kept revellers indoors.
Police bosses congratulated the public for sticking to the regulations to avoid spreading the virus. Cells were empty and the number of police incidents were half the number of previous years as the usual alcohol-related public order offences were avoided.
It was in stark contrast to the usual scenes of partying as people stayed home and let off fireworks across the region.
Police control room supervisor Mike Newton tweeted that when he arrived for work at 6.15am yesterday there had been 317 incidents reported since midnight.
He added: “By comparison, that number was reached at 03:12 in 2020, 02:44 in 2019 and 03:07 in 2018. Handover reported that people were, in general, very well behaved overnight in @DC_Police, well done folks. Here’s to 2021.”
Police Incident Manager Mike Brewer said: “It has been unusually quiet overnight for obvious reasons.
“We have been busy, but not with the usual churn of alcohol-related public order incidents which would normally fill up the cells on New
A security patrol in St Ives in conjunction with the local police
Year’s Eve.” In Plymouth C Section Response officers also said on social media at 4.10am: “Without wishing to tempt fate, tonight has not felt like the typical NYE shift.
“Very Q compared to previous years!”
Officers from Plymouth D Section Response admitted on Twitter: “Even we’re missing the chaos a bit.”
To help highlight the comparison, Newquay Police posted pictures of Central Square during last the 2020 New Year’s Eve celebrations showing the area packed with people alongside what it looked like this year, with the scene empty.
“What a difference 12 months can make,” the tweet added.
There was one nasty exception though after police were called to reports of a large group of people partying on the beach at Downderry, in south east Cornwall. A police patrol car parked on the slipway had its rear windscreen smashed. Police are appealing for witnesses to ring 101 and quote Log 1316 31/12/20.
Elsewhere, Devonport and West Local Policing tweeted they found a group of teenagers who had “two bottles of peach Schnapps” confiscated off them. Officers added that the teenagers were then sent home.