Message from Essex Police To Parish Council –

The Parish Council have received the following message from Essex Police regarding the recent riots and looting.  Please see below.    Joe Burlo l Chariman l Pebmarsh Parish Council l 01787 269999

Dear Councillor

Following on from the violent disorder seen across London and in cities across the UK, I wanted to write to you with some reassurance on the situation in Essex. We have sought to keep our communities informed and yesterday put out a strong message to the public via our website and twitter, as well as through the media.

We have seen no violent disorder in Essex akin to what has been happening in larger cities across the country. Where there has been minor disorder, Essex Police has acted quickly to make arrests. On Monday following a burglary in Buckhurst Hill, 13 men were arrested, and following minor damage to a police vehicle in Loughton, two male youths were arrested. In Harlow, four people were arrested for minor damage in the town centre.  We have seen a number of young people gathering in large groups in various places across the county, but Essex Police has taken immediate action by deploying public order officers to disperse such groups. This early intervention has meant we have not seen any large scale disorder.

Last night (Tuesday) Police officers arrested a 17-year-old man from Clacton for incitement to commit violent disorder after comments were published on facebook encouraging people to gather at a location in Essex and cause disorder.  The man remains in police custody. We also arrested two teenagers from Grays and South Ockendon, for using social networking websites for incitement to commit violent disorder.  Essex Police is monitoring social media and will not tolerate anyone who uses the internet or any electronic communication device to send inaccurate and false messages intending to incite disorder, or cause alarm.

Essex Police has a robust plan in place and is utilising additional resources by calling officers and staff in to work on their rest days. We have been providing support to colleagues in the Metropolitan Police Service. We currently have between 50 – 100 officers in London at any one time from within our establishment of over 3000 police officers, over 400 PCSOs and several hundred Special Constables.

Your support is important to us. When you are speaking to the public please help us by reassuring them that Neighbourhood Policing teams remain in place across Essex and Police Officers, PCSOs and Special Constables are working in communities to ensure a high visibility policing presence. Essex Police is doing all it can to ensure Essex remains a safe place to live and work and will continue to work with partners across the criminal justice system to ensure that any criminality is dealt with swiftly and robustly.

You can also assist the police by encouraging the public to call 999 if they witness any incidents taking place or to call our non emergency number 101 or 0300 333 4444 to pass on information or intelligence. 

We are updating our website with the latest information in Essex throughout the day and night, so this is the best place to look for updates should the situation change. www.essex.police.uk

Thank you for your continued support and please get in touch if you have any further questions or comments.

Yours faithfully

Derek Benson

Deputy Chief Constable

Claire Ziwa
Head of Media and Public Relations
Essex Police Headquarters
PO Box 2
Springfield, Chelmsford
CM2 6DA
Direct Line: 01245 452121
Mobile:07837 085367
claire.ziwa@essex.pnn.police.uk
www.essex.police.uk

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