Police arrest 20 onfirst night of Rox

Up to 35 police officers were deployed in the area in the biggest police presence seen at a community event in the town.

Most of the officers were on patrol beyond 11pm to cope with the high volume of people around the town centre after Rox finished and the continued drinking of alcohol inside licensed premises and on the streets.

Additional officers were also on duty outside the Rox zone to provide normal weekend policing to other areas.

Inspector John Merrick, of Bognor Regis police station, said conditions warranted the large turnout.

'From a policing perspective, unfortunately as we anticipated, we saw a significant increase in alcohol-related crime and, in particular, violent crime on the Saturday night into the early hours of Sunday morning.

'Even with the substantial police resources deployed, we were stretched both inside and outside of the Rox zone,' he revealed.

'Officers in Bognor made 20 arrests '“ not all can be linked to Rox directly but there was an indirect effect after people consumed alcohol throughout the day and into the evening.

'Sixteen prisoners had to remain in custody overnight to be dealt with by officers in the morning.

'The majority were for alcohol-related violence or criminal damage. In addition, there were a number of penalty notices issued for disorder and supplying alcohol to under-age children.'

Insp Merrick said the weekend had undermined the recent hard work of the police to cut seafront and town-centre violent crime and criminal damage. He pointed out Rox had also reduced the effectiveness of the drinking control zone which limits the consumption of alcohol in the streets.

His officers were lenient in their approach to public drinking, because of the nature of the event, with booze only confiscated from those being or likely to be disorderly or aged under 18.

'Despite this, a large quantity of alcohol was seized and disposed of by officers,' he stated.

Many licensed premises helped by using plastic glasses for drinks for outside consumption but plenty of glass bottles were in the area to present a risk to people.

Insp Merrick added that the atmosphere was fine as Saturday began but it changed as night fell.

Sunday, however, was a more relaxed day and '˜only minor problems resulted towards the end of the event'.

n No complaints about Rox were received by Arun District Council's environmental health officers by Monday lunchtime from the public or the council's contractors.