Officers have made over 200 arrests during the festive period as part of efforts to keep people across Cumbria safe throughout Christmas and New Year.
This is work the force do all year round, but over this period they have intensified activities to target criminals and prevent crime.
A total of 222 arrests were made during the period with 347 stop searches also carried out.
Police activity included targeting drink and drug driving under Operation Limit, VAWG (violence against women and girls), personal safety, retail and targeting wanted people.
As part of Operation Limit, officers stopped 1,479 motorists as part of a proactive approach to road safety. In total 165 people were arrested for driving offences, of those 50 people were arrested for drink driving and 94 for drug driving.
Visibility within town and city centre areas was increased throughout the month as officers were out on foot to keep people safe, specifically in nightlife areas where people were celebrating the festive period.
As part of preventative work, officers conducted 355 licensing visits to premises across the county. These visits were conducted to support licensees in collective efforts to keep their customers safe.
Throughout December the Fraud Prevent & Protect Team were out across Cumbria as part of the force's ‘Don't Make Their Christmas Campaign’ to provide advice and guidance to the public. An advertising campaign ran across Carlisle and Barrow on bus stops throughout December, containing advice to protect against fraud, focussing on the message: “Don’t be taken in by a friendly voice. Phone fraudsters use trust to steal.”
A campaign also ran to highlight action taken to prevent Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), with the force utilising bus advertisements and a van with a digital screen.
Assistant Chief Constable Dave Stalker said: “Over the festive season our officers and staff have worked incredibly hard to keep our communities safe.
“This period is often the busiest time of the year and the results highlighted are just a small part of the work our officers and staff do.
“Whilst we have a visible presence in our communities, there is a lot of unseen work to keep people safe and target those involved in criminality.
“Increased staffing over the festive period has meant more officers on patrol and specific operation carried out to target those committing offences.
“We also look at how we can prevent criminality by engaging with local businesses and communities, as well as running public awareness campaigns to provide people with advice.
“Our work does not stop here and will continue into 2026, but we continue to need the public's help to provide the vital information to us to investigate and prevent crime. By contacting us with information you are making an important contribution which may lead to a criminal being locked up, a victim securing justice or our policing service being able to prevent offence before they have happened.”
Cumbria’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, David Allen, said: “The festive period can be amongst the busiest time in the law enforcement calendar, with lots of demands on staffing and resources, from road traffic matters to an increase in cases of domestic abuse. These results show the hard work, intelligence led approach and dedication that Cumbria Constabulary’s staff and officers demonstrate on a daily basis.
“The officers and police staff across Cumbria put themselves in harms way during that period to keep us and our families safe and secure. This season has seen an increase in visibility of policing as well as a targeting of those that offend and who are involved in criminality.
“Cumbria is an incredibly safe county and is kept that way by the dedicated professionals that work day in, day out, to keep it that way. This festive season is a testament to that work and I would like to thank them publicly for that.
“As ever, should you or anyone you know have anything they wish to report, please do so via 101 or 999 in an emergency. Please don’t assume that if you put it on FB it will be seen as the police do not regularly monitor this. If you wish to contact me or my office to discuss any matter, you can do so on commissioner@cumbria-pcc.police.uk”
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