britain's coastline cops patrol 10 and a half thousand miles of our shoreline from stunning beaches to isolated cliffs and packed seaside resorts [Music] from scotland to west cumbria from east anglia to the solent on the south coast with 40 million recession hit britain staying at home this year keeping the peace on the coast has never been tougher a special job for a special kind of cop tonight looking for drugs on loch lomond your hands out of pockets for me he's put in his mouth to eat it i've told him to spit it chucking out time on the isle of mull zero tolerance in cumbria don't go around calling coppers and on the yorkshire coast troublemaking holidaymakers get what they ask for in scarborough [Music] the west coast of scotland is one of the most spectacular coastlines in the uk dotted with hundreds of islands remote beaches rocky inlets and tiny harbors [Music] and they don't come much smaller than toba mori on the isle of mull 900 people live here it used to be an isolated fishing village before the victorians discovered it and put it on mull's tourist trail looking after the locals and the few visitors who come here are just five police officers one of the smallest forces in britain sergeant angela mcdonald is in charge she used to be a detective in turbulent glasgow before transferring to mull a year ago to become a coastline cop policing here is quite unique in that it's a beautiful place to live and work it consists of a strong community where people are very pro police you feel your work is appreciated you can really make a difference here which is very difficult when you're working in the city centre and racing from call to call and you don't have the time or the luxury that we have here sergeant mcdonald's luxurious time is under threat this weekend is the west highland sailing regatta 200 boats of all shapes and sizes are heading towards the isle of mull from the mainland and they're all stopping off in tobermory a thousand sailors in search of food and drink sergeant mcdonald and her fellow cops are going to be overwhelmed and she needs all the help she can get her back up is an elite marine policing unit from strathclyde police it has seven specialist officers and two high-speed rapid response boats in charge is sergeant ian oliphant a coastline cop who's never strayed too far from water i've sailed boats um for most of my life before i was in the police initially when i left school i trained and qualified as a marine engineer so these are skills which can be brought into the job that i do now there's approximately 5 000 square miles of water within the force area it's a larger coastline than france just over 1 700 miles there's a 164 identified ports this is a vast area to cover [Music] south of the scottish border in north yorkshire lies one of the busiest stretches of the uk coastline it's dominated by england's oldest seaside resort scarborough [Music] scarborough used to be the ultimate summer destination for millions of britons but the costa del sol and cheap flights per paid to all that but this year the credit crunch and some oldie worldly charm have brought back the holiday makers good news for local businesses tough times for the town's thin blue line summer days are usually peaceful but summer evenings not always so scarborough is a small town with a big nightlife [Music] pc john beaumont is walking the line tonight he joined the local force six years ago although he's never pleased a big city he's well aware of the difference some of the cities obviously have bigger problems than we do some sometimes you have the more staff to come up and specialist teams but we tend to find that you know is it isn't it is a nice area to work in evening as you'll see most of the people you can speak to quite freely and they will give you the time of day whereas bigger places they tend to not recognize you and you're just a number to to them back at the police station coastline cop pc dave kirk is getting ready for duty he's yorkshire born and bred and knows all about the trouble you face in these parts postal police and you'll get your hem parties it'll be public order side of things it will be drunken side of things anything burglary is in progress thefts in progress robberies it could be anything pc kirk joined the north yorkshire police as a teenager and there's nowhere else he'd rather be it's the coast it's scarborough you can see the sunset setting overseas and some rise coming up on the scene you know the scenery and everything next up for it i suppose picturesque maybe but crime happens no matter what the scenery it would appear that there's a burglary in progress coming in which is one of the villages where we're gonna make for it because we're quite close probably closer than the other officers this time it's burglars who are causing trouble on a local farm he's there he's there hello man we've only got very sketchy information about what's happened so well i was in bed now you're wagging stuff right come down i've not wired it you've got white wagon and i'll just take a look at it now you heard the lorry engine running revving trying trying to move it but the air brakes were still on so they couldn't move it which gave us a little bit of time to get down here but there's some sort of left the side they don't mess about do they and in this part of yorkshire gangs of horse rustlers are known to operate basically what i'm doing is i'm looking for any footwear marks that may be down here and what they've done is if you come and have a look at the at the barrel they've pulled this bit off here i don't want to touch it because it's going to be preserved for our scenes of crime or csi now to try and do the uh vapor lock [Music] be nice to catch him wouldn't it [Music] that's way control have we got a dog that can come to this scene the dog is jess a two-year-old german shepherd a police helicopter is also the dog man is communicating with the helicopter now to try and establish where the track ended so they can search the area from there meanwhile in town the third member of scarborough's coastline night shift is now on patrol pc julie johnson is a local less who used to be a police admin worker until she decided to go the whole way i just thought i don't want nine to five i'm a sort of bubbly sort of person as well and it appealed to me sort of going out and actually integrating with the members of the public and it's one of them jobs as well you come to work one day expecting you know a fairly level day and then all of a sudden things just bang you've got a murder or you've got a stabbing [Music] about 15 minutes ago we had a call from a female to say that her ex-partner has left a nurture suicide note we've just had another call to say that there's a male on one of our bridges just uh close to the far shore we call it spa bridge actually stood on the bridge threatening to throw himself off and we believe it's the same male so the partner or the ex-partner as such we're hoping to bring gear up i'm just running up here because i'm going to stop these pedestrians from walking under the bridge just in case excuse me excuse me the problem is is that we've got a situation and we can't allow pedestrians up that way well i can do steps giving lifting a patrol car is part of the coastline cops added value no we're not a big city problem is it's been busy as well because i think ken dodd's been on at the futurist so we do spend a bit more time looking after the more vulnerable is there i think we like to think especially in scarborough that we do care for the community as well as police community he's on the wrong side of the bridge he's on the wrong side of the water which means he's hanging off the edge sort of thing i think he's actually at the end of where that tree is he's literally just too out of the edge he's been on the wrong side of the bridge for about 20 25 minutes he has literally climbed over the railings it's stood facing inwards but he's on the outside obviously all down to the railings so let's go basically he goes backwards and it's i mean you can see it's a steep drop i know from colleagues where they've said you know they've been to these uh these sort of jobs before and and you know the impact and the noise it makes when things happen and it's quite nerve-wracking to think that let's just hope it gets back over again you know and things work out well [Music] pc johnson will have to keep moving on as the drama at the bridge continues it was over the railings here with the drop down into the gardens below there pc kirk isn't giving up on the horse box thieves it's behind where the dog section stood and the cumbrian food festival serves up celebrity chefs and for the coastline cups an unusual ingredient in scarborough on the yorkshire coast pc julie johnson is still trying to keep people away from the bridge where a man is on the edge she's waiting for trained negotiators but there's a potential problem ken dodd's in town and the showgoers will soon be coming out of the theater it's just down the road yep just information ken dodds at futurist is due to finish in half an hour resources you've got me watching pedestrians here got your paramedics ambulance down here it's also saturday night early hours sunday morning bank holiday sunday where you've got stuff in town oh god ken dodd's just come out it's early ken dodd's just coming out there's going to be hundreds of people here in a minute you're going to need another unit up there because we need to be here i'm afraid the roads are all closed off there's a situation up there we can't allow you up there we'll close the road if i'm afraid excuse me i'm afraid it's all closed you're going after what you have to do is there's some steps if you go outside of the olympia it'll take you up to the grand hotel you'll have to go that way you see to go get your vehicle i'm afraid two miles inland pc kirk is also under pressure he's still after the thieves who tried to hotwire a horse box he's not having much luck that's why we're coming to you too the helicopter's thermal imaging camera has picked up a heat trace side yet somewhere in there you're still on it now with the guy with a torch is just to your right five is it anything it's [Music] thought we'd had him then we've lost the trap possibly here hey the inspector's called it off so it's been an hour and a half anyway we've been out here so uh yes yes we'll catch them up because they've got some lights in scarborough town there's been a development a good one the man who's been threatening to jump off the bridge has changed his mind [Music] i think he's eventually agreed and he's actually climbed back over with assistance he didn't want to get into the fire lift and come down that way he's actually gone over that side the coastline cop who talked the man down is sergeant trish hope it started here it was over the railings here with the drop down into the gardens below there i engaged the gentleman in conversation i was literally stood here i was with her arms reach of him he was quite happy to have close contact with me um but it was just again a question of just trying to persuade him to agree to come back over the senior fire officer on the scene um established a rapport with him as well and between the two of us we actually managed to get him to walk along the bridge it's just here and he was he was walked along with the cradle behind him and i waited here and then i got hold of him here and he came over here i'm so glad i was actually at the bottom of the bridge i think if i'd about to stand up there and speak to him i think i'd have probably passed out so well let's go back in town [Applause] on the isle of mull the annual sailing regatta is gathering pace the 200 boats are well on their way to toba mori and sergeant macdonald and her four other coastline cops are preparing for the worst a thousand thirsty sailors heading for the tiny ports four pubs the specialist marine unit which will be helping her when the boats finally arrive are first tackling another mission the last high water was 14.55 looking for drugs on the banks of loch lomond so we'll just be starting to drop we've been tasked by the local division to assist them around loch lomond in the islands there's a number of acts of disorder some sometimes concentrated around campsites there's no restriction on camping on loch lomond and so you can camp in any islands in the shorelines much of loch lomond is inaccessible by road out of the reach of normal police that's where sergeant oliphant's coastline cops come in they can reach the parts that others can't [Music] and for this they have a new recruit a rookie this is gus he's a two-year-old english springer spaniel he's just completed an eight-week training course to become a drugs detection dog along with firearms detection and also money detection he's been operational now for about a month i would say now and he's already had some success recovering and the reaching of about three to four thousand pounds worth of drugs rookie gus faces an even stan attest today this is his first time on water [Music] the drugs problem has arisen because a recent change in the law in scotland gives everyone the right to roam anywhere they like including on private land strathclyde police have had complaints that campers are abusing the new ruling by holding drink and drugs parties in the most remote places on the lawn it's gus's job to find out if they're right all right guys there's no intelligence or anything to suggest that there would be any drugs here as such but we've explained what we're doing the reasons why we're doing it which is the number of complaints about disorder misuse of of both drinking drugs uh on the various campsites around the loft given sharp on you no keep your hands out of pockets for me something has been smoked in it i certainly wouldn't think it's just tobacco turn around for me as you approach the campsite one of the males was smoking what appeared to be a joint um and seeing as he's put it behind his back and then he's put in his mouth to eat it i've told him to spit out which he has done but he's been done with obstruction he's admitted that his cannabis because of that we have done a set where the dog gus has say have made an indication in the tent the the other chat has admitted that it says an undercaution as told as it's marijuana it's going to be a long day there's more than one campsite on the lock i mean i'm doing this out for me please if i do detect some interest it might heighten his behavior he'll indicate by sitting down sitting down at the item uh pointing to it towards his nose indicating it that way and wagging his tail that's right there oh tobacco no i'm next to the bathroom stuff possessing such a small quantity of drugs is not a serious offence but sergeant elephant is a coastline cop who does things by the book the camper gets a caution but no criminal proceedings are taken you won't see an applied charge no 200 miles south of loch lomond lies a far less isolated shoreline the cumbrian coast was once dominated by a network of large coal mines and thriving ports bustling with ships from all over the world trading timber tobacco and rum the most dynamic port of all was whitehaven this was once the sixth largest port in england but when the mines closed and shipbuilding moved away whitehaven was hit hard it had to look elsewhere for a lifeline and found it in food whitehaven is a small town with a population of around 25 000 yet it has managed to create the biggest food festival in britain over the next few hours whitehaven's coastline cops are expecting a hundred thousand people to sample its delights and have a drink or two pc mick taylor is a food festival veteran well police in an event like this it's actually a family event and we try to police it not as hard as what you would please something which was totally alcohol related this event down here or being a food festival is totally no alcohol so that actually i think keeps the peace most of the time and actually keeps most people enjoying the atmosphere the major problems we'll have on here are generally with youth disorder around the fairground areas and the potential of some young people trying to get a couple of drinks onto the harbour front now can i ask you you from this area obviously with celebrity chefs all over the harbour it's a chance for cumbria's finest to sample something other than the police canteen group [Applause] and for pc mctaylor it's a chance to fulfill a most important mission ainsley yeah appreciate mick taylor town centre officer for whitehaven i've got a great favor to ask you come on genie quick behave yourself gene we know what you like thanks very much that's it task complete [Music] you couldn't wish for a better place to live by the fails brilliant harbour what more do you want really [Music] [Applause] while it's food heaven at the stalls it's booze hell outside the pubs zero two we're on the way now pc filker others has been asked to deal with some drunken troublemakers yeah we just had a calling from officers down on the harbour now and they've got one under arrest for d and d drinking disorderly and so requesting the van um whoever it is obviously being violent because they've been part of it as well parva is a chemical spray the coastline cops use to subdue those who violently resist the rest it causes intense irritation of the eyes and takes time to wear off [Music] the lads have been searched and a plastic bag containing exotic plant leaves has been found because of what they've done their conduct they're not able to be left on the street so simple as that really keep your eyes closed the leaves in the plastic bag are actually herbs bought at the food festival but not the sort of ingredient you find in an ainsley harriet recipe obviously we did stalls and stuff like that that are in at the minute and there's a lot of continental stuff that's in uh and this is an aphrodisiac so it's a powerful blend of sexually stimulating herbs including the back of an african tree and why he's got it i don't know but it is legal throughout europe and the usa called this who knows right we're going to go in this man's day out of the food festival is over he and his mates are charged with being drunk and disorderly the herbs though are nothing but harmless leaves on the menu a few hours in the cells with one unhappy drinking companion who's still asking for trouble i'm going to shout back to him just let him shout to himself [Music] that's correct no no down here all right you walk on your own can't you yep spot on ignore him he's not your problem all right all right but there are many more problems heading the way of the coastline cops a former military policeman has his own way of dealing with food festival troublemakers don't go around calling coppers pc's kirk and johnson take on all comers in scarborough now go away and in tobermory the elite marine unit finds itself dealing with sailors your night is now over some of whom are very much worse for wear [Music] on the cumbrian coast of whitehaven the annual food festival is in full swing a hundred thousand visitors are now crammed into the town and its pubs [Music] sergeant jim lloyd is a former military policeman who knows how quickly things can change when alcohol is involved he and his team are prepared for anything if we do have to use it it's all gone horribly pear shaped good bunch of troops to work with in the van so we have a laugh and look after each other that's what it's all about isn't it so i mean the whole purpose of this van and all these bobbies are in the van really is going to be to deal with public order which will be as a result of drink so in effect you're tying up seven officers to deal with people who can't handle their alcohol um but it's gonna be done isn't it so we'll just crack on and do it they've seen something a couple of lads pushing each other i don't know what it is we'll go and have a win make sure we nip it in the bud before anything else happens get yourself up fella you're in the road help me come get yourself on the pavement you're falling about in the road you're drunk so what we're going to do is i think we're going to have you uh out of the town for the rest of the evening okay right you haven't listened to what this fellow's going to say to you on the phone in the middle of the road we need someone to come here around the corner and you've got one flat pedestrian a fatal road traffic investigation which is a waste of everybody's time when it can be averted okay this lad is now banned for the day from the town center he's been given a coastline cop exclusion order sorry guys obviously just a couple of drunken half wits so we'll leave them to it in toba mori on the isle of mull there aren't any drunken halfwits but there are a thousand sailors in town celebrating the end of the west highland regatta sergeant macdonald and her four other coastline cops are going to be overwhelmed but help is at hand sergeant mcdonald's backup the police marine unit from the mainland has arrived their patrol boat can do 60 miles an hour fully loaded but tonight it will be less about speed they have it's their choice but they might not be too happy and more about caring for others obviously the problems will arise not want to state the obvious but drink mixed with people going in dinghy's back out to the boats is going to be our main concern in north yorkshire the coastline cubs are also concerned about what will happen when their summer visitors have had enough to drink pc dave kirk will be on the front line tonight now in the locker room i'm just getting ready to go out and this is my tackle berry belt what's got all your your toys on that's powder spray that's like pepper spray like cs spray i've got um my bracelets my handcuffs i've got a spit hood if people are spitting at you you can put this over them it goes over the head i always like to carry one because i don't get i don't like to be spat on you know it's it's vile it's filthy i don't mind being punched but you know getting spat on is completely something else isn't it i've just got a pouch full of rubber gloves they're obviously dealing with the uh you know covered in puke people on a friday saturday night got me old pritchett button but i've never hit anyone with it i'm a fond user of the gas if you're putting this around someone's legs or other parts of their anatomy then they're going to have permanent damage out there really if you're not to this point then you've lost haven't you the plan is the town centre to see what we can see we're going to have a drive around first and then i think we're going to get out and have a wander around pubs and clubs with uh with julie being the licensing officer julie the licensing officer is pc julie johnson and she's already out on patrol keeping an eye on the pubs and clubs as you can probably see now we're sort of coming up to the crowd so pc johnson has a tough job scarborough has around 70 pubs and three nightclubs [Applause] [Music] the summer is their best chance to make a profit i love you becky so far so good joyful you know they don't seem too drunk just all in good spirits really which is what we want to show them this guy around the corner others are trying to knock each other down it's pc kirk's job to stop him it's not have a good night it's not worth it it's not worth it so walking around with an attitude people might have an attitude with me but you treat people as you find don't you and if they're they're all right with you you're all right with him why don't you do sure about it well he's doing something about it now go away coastline policing is usually done with a light touch but tonight there are too many people cutting up rock just go away that's grow age it can be intimidating but i think it's it's a matter of probably not backing down showing them that you're not really intimidated and standing your ground with them really most people here run out to sort of assault police they're here for a good time trouble like this may be small town stuff but pc johnson doesn't like what she's hearing i don't know you just get this feeling that you know things are starting to brew up and you know if things are starting to sort of come to the boil at the end and the eventuality is that you end up with fights people being locked up in whitehaven on the cumbrian coast the brewers also coming to the boil at the food festival and sergeant lloyd realizes he will need every ounce of his experience as a coastline cop once the fireworks display is finished you'll probably find there'll be a mass exodus off the harbour side heading up to the pubs so you'll get all the last sort of hangers on of families and whatever who've come down to see the day's events they'll start leaving and everybody else will filter back out towards the pubs [Applause] there'd be flash points at the taxi ranks fast food establishments in my tummy in my bloody tammy and drunken fools like that sergeant lloyd might have left the army seven years ago but the discipline he gained is still there he's not a man to be messed with turn around move away i'm not going to ask you again move away you keep moving let me come fill it up we're going to search you just run the back of the van we'll just do around the back of the valve section five of the public order right you don't have to say anything but may army defense if you fail to mention now move away something which you let her align in court back off fella can you go watch your head section 5 public order quote all police puffs we were discussing earlier about how drunks will come up and speak to you and be quite friendly and then it will just turn in a second and that one there chatting away and then deciding to get quite abusive making homophobic remarks can't have that so he's been locked up but out of the way out of the way but as you see a couple of his mates decided they want to intervene and you really need to get a grip of the crowd very quickly and let them know who's in charge if we don't become quite dominant with them and move them out of the way that could quite easily have turned and they would have tried it on with us on the isle of mull it's drams and sea shanties rather than homophobic remarks that are the order of the night the sailors crammed into the pubs in toba mori are in the mood to celebrate or at least most of them are sergeant oliphant has found that one mariner who having reached his limit started asking for trump let me explain to you this very simply you've been removed from the premises doesn't matter what it's for they can refuse anybody okay so what i would suggest your night is now over all right and you make your way back to wherever your arrangements are to get back onto your boat and have a night's sleep and [Music] sergeant elephant knows that he and his marine unit will have to hang about for a while longer it will soon be chucking out time quarter to one the two main public houses are that are left open are going to be stopping the bands about one o'clock and looking to close up for the evening [Applause] maybe a skin full of a drink and they put quite a lot of people on the dinghies that go back and forth they may be overloading a few the boats [Applause] they're not wearing any life jackets and so the danger is when they're heading back if someone falls in and they're not getting your lights on so just make sure everybody gets back safely getting everyone back safely is easier said than done especially when they're having trouble building up a head of steam he's a regard to turning the actual fuel on and had the choke out so possibly flooded the engine so we decided to give them a tour to the boat to make sure they're going on there safely it's it's been a very good humour than generally well received all evening on the north yorkshire coast it's also pub chucking out time and for many of these holidaymakers that means a trip to the nightclub and licensing officer johnson's getting that feeling again my gut feeling earlier was it was going to be busier than last night which yeah it will because it's saturday but uh there are a lot more sort of parties and people dressed up like i thought there would be as well so it's quitting down at the top end of town now because that's where everyone starts drinking so they've obviously moved off down there and they're heading around so the potential really is at the far end of town now but give it another hour so i would imagine you know we will start seeing seeing things happening so we'll see for pc johnson things will be happening sooner than she thought as scarborough summer nights finally boil over [Music] in scarborough on the north yorkshire coast saturday night is in full swing pcs kirk and johnson are facing a wave of increasing disorder someone's getting beaten up apparently the bottom of the green green lane and it's just towards us where we're just coming from control they don't have time to help with the fight they've been asked to go to a row outside one of scarborough's three night clubs the man in the yellow shirt is clearly spoiling for a fight and the rest of the crowd is getting worked up as well the men in the red jackets are scarborough council night marshals charged with helping police keep the peace pc kirk has now become isolated and that's a dangerous position for any coastline cop to be in [Applause] punches have been thrown and pc kirk's helmet is gone the man in the yellow shirt is in the thick of it pc kirk's first line of defense is his power spray which usually stops even the most determined opponent this man just laughs it off [Music] and they're now getting it in the face too which kirk believes should only ever be used as a last resort is out he's coming in he's coming in what's up [Music] even with five cops on him the man will not go quietly and others fancy a go at pc kirk too with at least eight officers and marshals trying to subdue the man the parva spray is used for a third time back off back off the pc kirk knows there's a danger more of the crowd could join in good girls listen to me now it's okay great zombie monster at last the officers can get to the man's hands to cuff him but he's so big the pc kirk's normal pair aren't enough i need another cuff it's too big back them off just stay calm all right all right we're going to stand you up and you're going to be all right all right all right all right good luck on your side right we're going to put you to your feet all right right upwards fall down hours hours where is ours back there what what with me down here pc kirk's prisoner is now going to face a public order charge the man is not impressed with the outcome of his brush with the coastline cops good lad sit in there huge fight basically between us and then the adrenaline is definitely pumping glad in the back of the van's local lad you get one down you do it for office of safety you know numbers doesn't mean anymore people get involved people joining in it's a matter of keeping it calm now just spoken to berlin star staff explain the atmospheres they have a good feeling earlier it was brewing well it brewed and it boiled over saturday night this summer saturday night might have ended in tears in scarborough but in whitehaven on the cumbrian coast peace and quiet reigns as it does north of the border in tobermory where the sailors are safe in their yachts and for scarborough's licensing officer pc johnson it's been a night to remember but not one which dims her enthusiasm for being a coastline cop four o'clock in the morning sort of driving around the bay or whatever just general policing and the sun's coming up you know it's a nice sight it's nice the seagulls i don't like but you know rest of it yeah the sea is nice to see next week on coastline cops a vip visit to an east coast marina on the lookout for terrorists in the soland i mean look at the targets there they're massive high profile targets now the suffolk air festival it's all the fun of the fair on the beach but on the seafront it's just not fair i know you're not getting with me [Music]