RICHARD HARRIS joined police on patrol around Selby’s pubs and clubs.

POLICE in Selby are determined that the festive season in the town’s pubs and clubs will be a peaceful one.

The Press went out with officers patrolling the town to see how they keep order. Sgt Phil Holliday explained that Thursday nights were predominantly for students, while Fridays saw single men and women going out and Saturdays were for couples.

On Thursday’s night shift, there were 12 officers on duty ready to act in the event of trouble. With the team of Mayfair Security’s CCTV staff, doormen and night marshals, the streets of Selby at night have probably never been safer.

But trouble still sometimes flares, generally when the late-night clubs close and revellers from various nightspots converge in the Market Place looking for taxis or burgers.

Sgt Holliday said: “We normally have a police vehicle at the top of Finkle Street, another vehicle by the taxi rank in James Street and another one moving around as well as the foot patrols.

“We have a good relationship with the door staff. They readily assist us, we assist them and then at weekends we have the street marshals.”

Waq Raja was on the door of the Blackamoor Head in Finkle Street.

“We’ve got a Pub Watch radio that’s linked to the cameras and CCTV operating room,” he said. “Whenever there’s anything we need to report, we just radio through and if the police are required, they make their way down.

Thursday night turned out to be mainly quiet but there were still pockets of trouble. Two teenagers were reported fighting in Park Street and Sgt Holliday spoke to one of them, while his colleagues tracked the other one.

With no real injuries, Sgt Holliday described it as akin to a “playground scuffle”. Both were given “words of advice” though and told to make their way home, but the incident is still taken seriously.

Sgt Holiday said that when most people are just out for a good night, one fight can spoil it and give the impression that the town is violent.

For the police, that is not an option, and in the run-up to Christmas and the New Year, a heavy police presence will try to ensure that the minority do not spoil it for the majority.