Police have ensured a safe summer at Dockyard by sending dedicated officers to the area, according to Western Area Commander Robert Cardwell.Acting Chief Inspector Cardwell spoke out after concerns were raised about crowd control at a recent Snorkel Park event, Loco 2012, which was ultimately trouble-free (see main story).Police had already stepped up security after what Acting Chief Insp Cardwell described as “multiple fights breaking out at the conclusion of a Snorkel Park event” earlier this summer.He explained: “As a result of that, we don’t make mistakes twice, and we always have adequate resources dedicated to Dockyard, which has been fairly incident-free.”He said the service began providing dedicated officers for Dockyard a few years ago to enhance public confidence at the venue, which attracts thousands of cruise ship visitors and locals.“This is something that we recognised worked well and we have continued. These officers are provided from our Western Area Community Action Team, and they make it their mission to make themselves known to proprietors and businesses in Dockyard as a single point of contact for any problems that are being experienced as well as to provide reassurance to our visitors who they engage and are readily received for photographs or general conversation,” he said.“The night-time economy in Dockyard this summer has been vibrant. The Bermuda Police Service does not concern itself with preventing anyone from having a good time. It does concern itself very seriously with ensuring that public safety and public order is maintained not only in Dockyard but Island-wide.”Acting Chief Insp Cardwell said officers from Somerset Police Station have gone out of their way to keep the area safe this summer.“To their credit, and as a demonstration of their commitment, the officers have made personal sacrifices and departed from their regular scheduled duty times to a system that ensured Dockyard was adequately policed,” he said.“This was a temporary measure whilst I worked with division Commanders to find a longer term solution to resource the policing needs of this area and we now have this in place as a shared responsibility across the service.”He added that the police are committed to working in partnership with the proprietors, organisers and security personnel of events in the area. They also highlight any concerns in advance of liquor licences being granted.“When a liquor licence is applied for we make contact with the applicant to ensure that a security plan that we can both endorse and support is in place. In cases where there is no plan we offer the necessary advice and certainly we follow up to ensure that the advice given has been adopted,” he explained.“In Dockyard our personnel regularly liaise with security personnel at the various venues. Whilst our core responsibility is to effectively police Dockyard in its entirety rather than specific premises, we do have a sound partnership with the security personnel who provide security at the Snorkel Park, an establishment that regularly attracts large numbers of patrons. The Snorkel Park security team throughout this season so far has demonstrated responsible security behaviour in the face of the large numbers of patrons attracted to that premises and I have been satisfied that a satisfactory level of public safety is being maintained within that venue.”His remarks were echoed by Oscar Lightbourne, chief administrative officer at DPA Security, which provides guards for events there.“This is our second summer at Dockyard and our relationship with the police is exemplary we have an excellent rapport,” he said.