The briefing at 10.30 pm, was soon interrupted by a call to a fight involving a dozen people in one of the establishments in the Town Centre. The arrival of a New Forest area police car, the Ringwood beat officer patrol car and the 'Impact Team' van soon quietened things down. This was however to be the start of a busy night which would not even allow time for a cup of tea.

A patrol of Poulner in North Ringwood was cut short to attend another call to a fight in a different part of Ringwood town. Some witnesses stated, "This is a regular occurrence here at the weekend."

Assistance to get taxis for a few ladies who were stranded was immediately followed by pursuit of a car with no lights on, and yet another call to a fight but this time in a residential area. It was then back to the Market Place at 01.30 am to deal with another disturbance.

Use of 'play back' by the town's CCTV recorded footage proved invaluable at resolving this incident. In the words of the regular Ringwood beat officer who attended, "the situation was prevented from developing further by the timely arrival of the Specials 'Impact' van and their presence."

At 2 am I left the 'Impact Team', they still had another hour to work, and some of them would be doing their normal jobs on Sunday afternoon. Here had been an example of our young people in the New Forest giving of their time freely to help others. Their presence and professionalism had brought control to the streets of Ringwood in an even-handed and balanced way. I felt proud to have been able to join them, but also had concerns as a Town Councillor.

Reflections
On driving home, I had time to reflect. It had been a busy time. Ringwood had been well policed. All the incidents responded to had been as a result of calls by members of the public. The professional approach and interpersonal skills of all the police and the presence of the Specials 'Impact' van defused the situations and consequently no arrests were made and no one reported.

Our young Ringwood people, in the main, showed they could have fun and had responded to the professional approach of the equally young 'Specials' police team. However, Ringwood is not incident free, the 'Impact Team' had made a difference but they are a Forest wide asset and just happened to be in the right place at the right time on Saturday night. Perhaps a point to ponder may be that the number of offences recorded determines the allocation of police; yet by good interpersonal police skills it had been another quiet night in Ringwood!

The Specials
The team was commanded PC Dave Cutting, a special for 25 years, and kitchen engineer by trade. His young team of six special police constables, ranged in experience from three years to just three months, for some it was their first experience of being out in the 'Impact' van which is what their police vehicle is called.

Their excellent teamwork belied their limited experience of working as a team, a tribute not only to Dave and Inspector Hutchings but also their training. All live in different towns across the Forest and come together at the weekends, when they are free, to provide this special police service, without pay, for safety of the residents of the New Forest. Their professions were varied ranging from working in a call centre, probation service, outdoor activity centre, to working for a funeral director.

We have a shortage of Specials in the New Forest; we pay for young people to stay at school, yet here we have young people serving the community in often quite dangerous situations with no reimbursement.

There really is a need to review this situation and consider funding them like our Territorial Army or our auxiliary nurses. What a good experience for our young people to have but there must be some financial incentive if we are to see more of our young men and women attracted to this worth while community service.

Councillor Colonel Terry Scriven

Ringwood Town Council
Sunday 29th October 2006