The number of Police in Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge has been increased to the levels of two years ago, it has emerged this week.
The news came in an update from Avon and Somerset Police to Burnham and Highbridge town councillors at its annual meeting, held online.
Neighbourhood Inspector Joe Piscina said: “In terms of local Neighbourhood Policing we have had our final reshuffle with the teams and we believe we now have a perfect balance of PCs and PCSOs spread across two teams in Sedgemoor offering a better service locally.”
“In Burnham/Highbridge and the surrounding areas, we now have an increased presence working out of Burnham Police Station with beat managers and PCSOs working together, bringing it back to the levels of two years ago.”
“Due to Covid-19, however, there certainly has been a bit of change in terms of demand and in the most part we are handling that new demand very well.”
“Officers are picking up a number of logs linked to people breaching the restrictions on top of daily services. We are attending most of these logs but please do bear with us because on top of more calls we are losing some of the team who have been forced to self-isolate. I am happy to report, though, that no-one has been seriously ill and after initially losing a few members of staff they are now returning safe and well.”
“The community within Sedgemoor have overall been sticking to the guidelines from the public and although we are seeing people out and about, most are taking onboard our words of advice with only approximately 2% of incidents resulting in a fine.”
“Unfortunately, due to the location, we are seeing a lot of out-of-town visitors still and that is something we are targeting at this time.”
