'Beach Beat' to make shores safer

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A police community support officer (PCSO) will join lifeguards to patrol a beach in Pembrokeshire this summer in a bid to make the shoreline safer.

The Beach Beat pilot scheme will run on Saundersfoot beach and if successful, could be rolled out to other popular shorelines in the area.

PCSO Simon Lewis, who is also trained as a lifeguard, will help with issues like lost children and petty crime.

The scheme was first run on beaches in Cornwall last year.

PCSO Lewis will be primarily responsible for community safety on the beach and will make the reporting of incidents easier, said the RNLI.

Mr Lewis added that he would also be looking out for anti-social behaviour and handing out leaflets to visitors about not leaving their valuables unattended or on show in their cars.

The objective of Beach Beat scheme is to make the best use of joint resources to increase safety on beaches Sandi Hill, RNLI

He will also work alongside the RNLI lifeguard team to provide beach safety advice to help prevent accidents and will be able to respond in an emergency situation.

"The objective of Beach Beat scheme is to make the best use of joint resources to increase safety on beaches," said Sandi Hill from the RNLI.

"On Saundersfoot beach we have two lifeguards and yesterday (Sunday) we had thousands and thousands of people on the beach.

"We had four or five missing kids and numerous other things going on so with that amount of people on the beach and only two lifeguards, having an extra PCSO who is a qualified lifeguard makes it so much easier for us.

"We have always got people coming up to us because we are the first people seen on the beach. So we hear about things like lost property, vandalism and drinking and it kind of takes us away from our main duty of preventing incidents on the beach."

Ch Insp Mark Bleasdale from Dyfed Powys Police said if the scheme was successful more PCSOs would be dedicated to patrolling beach areas in Pembrokeshire.

"During the summer the population in Pembrokeshire dramatically increases with holidaymakers," he said.

"It is therefore an excellent opportunity to work with the RNLI to patrol some of our busiest areas."