IN THIS week’s article, I thought I would provide an update on the police activities around Halloween and Bonfire Night.

What I would say from the start is that these events remain opportunities for communities and families to celebrate these traditions together and that the role of the police and all our partners is to support you all to do this as safely as possible.

I’m pleased to say that, overall, both nights have passed off without major incident. These nights are the culmination of several months’ planning as far as ourselves and our key partners in East Lothian Council and blue light services go and so my thanks are due to all our partners for their support.

On Halloween, I was on the ground around 6pm with community officer PC Lee Wilson and walked along Musselburgh High Street and through Newbigging.

Immediately, the value of a police presence was shown as we were able to intervene with a couple having a domestic at the bus stop and calm the situation down.

From there, we continued to walk through Lewisvale Park and into the Pinkies. During this time, we met a number of younger guisers who were out with their parents trick-or-treating.

The best/worst joke of the night went to a young skeleton who asked us what a ghost’s favourite food was…. “I scream”, in case you’re wondering! The atmosphere on the streets was friendly and it was clear people were having a good time.

On approaching Pinkie Farm Stores, however, we came into contact with a group of boys between the ages of 13-16 with their faces covered, who were clearly intent on misbehaving and greeted us with a volley of stones.

Needless to say the group did not want to speak to us too closely and took to their heels across the playing fields. A quick stop at the shop to reassure and speak to staff and our colleagues in the fire service, who were also out and about, was followed by a walk back towards the centre of town.

Disappointingly, there were several incidents over the course of the following few hours where young people were setting off fireworks around High Street.

On Friday last week, I requested the support of school headteachers in continuing to appeal for young people to refrain from engaging in this type of behaviour and I am aware that, as a result of what happened on Halloween in Musselburgh, several business premises closed their doors early on Bonfire Night, which does demonstrate that the actions of a few have consequences for all.

I’m pleased to say that Tuesday night, whilst busy as you’d expect, was the correct response for the most part to the advice which has been issued from ourselves, headteachers and fire service.

Many of you will have seen the scenes on the news from parts of Edinburgh, which are utterly deplorable.

No police officer or other emergency service worker expects to face such dangerous acts of wanton damage and recklessness, and it should serve as a warning to all communities to condemn those who they know behave in this manner and make all types of anti-social behaviour socially unacceptable.

By working together, highlighting personal responsibility and an awareness of our actions, we can all play our part in preventing anti-social behaviour and ensure that East Lothian is a safe and pleasant location for all to use and enjoy, whatever the time of year. Thank you for your support in this.