Revellers keep force busy (From Warrington Guardian)

Revellers keep force busy

POLICE in Cheshire received a huge increase in calls and dealt with a significant number of incidents as people saw the New Year in across the county.

New Year's Day saw about 40 per cent more 999 calls to Cheshire Constabulary compared to the same period last year.

Overall, 50 per cent more calls were received than on an average Friday or Saturday night, with most coming in the early hours of the morning.

In all, more than 1,000 incidents were reported by the public and 64 arrests were made on New Year's Eve alone.

Ch Insp John Turton, operations manager for the call management department, said New Year's Eve was extremely busy after a relatively quiet Christmas period.

He said: "The staff in the call management department worked extremely hard throughout the night to answer the calls and deploy the officers."

The majority of incidents that officers dealt with throughout the night were as a result of drink-related disorder.

However, police were concerned about the number of drink-related domestic violence incidents that were reported.

Ch Con Peter Fahy said the volume and nature of the incidents underlined some of the concerns expressed before the holiday period.

He said: "Much of the violent or abusive behaviour reported involved disputes between family members or groups of friends rather than strangers.

"A number of people started the New Year in a police cell as a result and will be appearing in court in due course.

"The force coped well with an extraordinary level of demand."