Kent Polices drive to tackle anti-social behaviour ensured the bonfire weekend festivities passed off peacefully around the county, with only a few minor incidents.

 

There were no arrests for firework-related crimes, but police are investigating where a firework caused slight damage to a phone box in Walmer. Meanwhile in Bearsted, a letter box and its contents were destroyed when a firework was placed inside it.

 

Chief Inspector Mark Harrison said: Clearly its a shame that these incidents happened, because everywhere else round the county people respected the spirit of the occasion.

 

The weekend bonfire and firework festivities complemented the forces ongoing campaign to target anti-social behaviour in all its forms. Officers were out in force, working with other agencies around Kent. There was a 14% reduction in the number of calls to police relating to inappropriate use of and noisy fireworks, in the period from 6pm Friday 3 November to 2am Monday 6 November.

 

Retailers were urged to display posters reinforcing the message that they would not sell fireworks to anyone under 18.

 

Chief Inspector Mark Harrison who co-ordinates Operation Excalibur and was responsible for ensuring that Kents Police used all the powers available to them said:

 

The weekend was a huge success, with hundreds of thousands of people enjoying organised firework displays. To date there have been no arrests relating to firework incidents and this shows that our message on preventing fireworks being misused was heeded by the public. We combined education with high profile policing to ensure that anti-social behaviour did not spoil the celebrations.

 

Im satisfied that the operation has worked well so far and that we used stop-and-search powers related to preventing misuse of fireworks to good effect to prevent possible injury and damage. This campaign will continue over the next week or so while fireworks still continue to be sold

 

The fireworks campaign forms part of Operation Excalibur, which aims to detect and deter anti-social behaviour in all its forms, including alcohol and drug-related crime, criminal damage and illegal vehicles or nuisance motorists.