OUR East Lothian communities, much like my officers, are undoubtedly beginning their preparations for the Christmas and New Year period – ensuring they have all the right provisions for the imminent celebrations.

Our preparations, however, don’t involve shopping for gifts or buying the trimmings for a delicious dinner. Instead, we are busy making sure we have all the necessary resources in place to keep the public safe throughout the festive season.

We will soon launch our annual festive policing campaign and you will see uniformed officers out on high-visibility patrols to engage with the public and offer a range of useful crime prevention and personal safety advice. My officers will also be speaking with retailers and licensed premises staff to encourage responsible trading when selling alcohol and reporting criminal activity within their venues.

If you would like any information on staying safe while out and about, or protecting your home and possessions, visit our website at www.scotland.police.uk I would also again reiterate at this time the importance of ensuring your vehicle is in full working order and is kitted out with all the necessary equipment to deal with the winter conditions, particularly if you are travelling long distances to visit family and friends over Christmas and New Year.

Please also remember that we have a zero tolerance stance on drink-driving and our officers are monitoring the roads throughout East Lothian to identify anyone driving while under the influence. If you are caught for drink driving you will be arrested, you will go to court and you will lose your licence, which will have a profound impact on your professional and social life.

Before we begin our festive policing activities, we have been busy tackling youth-related antisocial behaviour across East Lothian. Last weekend, as part of Operation Wolfcastle, the East Lothian community action team carried out a range of activities aimed at addressing recent issues relating to alcohol and drug-related disorder and general disturbances being reported.

As a result, a number of teenagers were charged with offences including possession of drugs, shoplifting, warrant offences and perverting the course of justice. A number of female youths were also conveyed home, due to concerns for their welfare.

We will continue to address the concerns of our local communities and take appropriate action such as this whenever it is brought to our attention.

The public can help us identify policing priorities for their area by taking part in our Your View Counts survey, which can be found on our website.

Engagement with the public remains at the heart of what we do and feedback from our communities is vital in helping us shape policing in your area.