POLICE Chief has declared the Troon Beach operation a success after taking an ‘old school’ approach and speaking directly to local people.

Although there were six incidents of disorder, the Safer Shores Campaign was considered to be a success after 2000 young people came to Troon Beach to enjoy the sun on Monday, May 28.

Working closely with British Transport Police, ScotRail, Coastguard, Red Cross, NHS, Scottish Ambulance Service, in Troon, Glasgow and Paisley railway stations, some 78 police officers were deployed to Troon Beach with an estimated 4000 rail passengers visiting the town from across the west of Scotland.

Chief Inspector Gary I’Anson, said: “Collectively, we thought we were prepared and we got the right amount of police officers [to the beach].

“Judging it, there were families enjoying their day on one side and the young people were at the other side of the beach having fun. We also had local residents on Victoria Drive thanking and giving police officers water.

“We had two incidents of people contacting us, thanking the police officers - one was a young person who was on the beach with their friends and the other was a family visiting the beach.

“I think this time around, we were listening to everyone – in the past, people put a post on social media and we would see it, whereas this time we couldn’t see what was being said. Local residents and community police officers were coming forward and saying that they were picking up chatter.

“We are hoping this will reduce the chances of [last year] happening and we can intervene while people are on their way to the beach and reduce alcohol being brought.

“It would be helpful for residents to keep giving us information [if they hear chatter] with the Safer Shores Campaign continuing over the summer with all of our partners.”