Good-natured revellers give police a pleasant surprise

Great Southern police have experienced one of the best festive seasons in recent memory with serious incidents few and far between.

Albany police Acting Sen. Sgt Nathan Parkey said the city was quieter than usual on New Year’s Eve.

“Generally, we have problems throughout the night but it was only once the nightclub closed and people spilled on to the streets that we had encountered a few issues,” he said.

“There was a bit of disorderly behaviour and a few confrontations between people, which were alcohol-related.”

Acting Sen. Sgt Parkey said the Boxing Day Races, one of Albany’s busiest events of the year, was also a fairly smooth day for police.

Mt Barker officer in charge Sgt David Johnson said it was the quietest holiday period they had “ever had”, with not a single call-out on New Year’s Eve.

“We’ve had a great and very quiet holiday period,” he said.

“Pretty much since the mural festival, we’ve had very little in the way of jobs and they’ve all been fairly minor. Even during the festival, it was the first week we’ve ever gone without a job, which has never happened in our history — well, in the last 20 years or so anyway.”

Walpole police also reported zero call-outs on New Year’s Eve, according to officer in charge Sgt John Bridger.

“The atmosphere was great down here,” he said. “The Christmas and new year period in general has been really good in Walpole and Peaceful Bay — no major incidents.

“The public have been really supportive and have had a really great time by the looks of it.”

Jerramungup and Cranbrook police also reported a quiet period.

Bremer Bay attracted one of the region’s biggest New Year’s Eve crowds, with Jerramungup officer in charge Sgt Simon Bickers praising their conduct. “I was personally quite impressed that there weren’t more arrests,” he said.