At your service Keeping our coastline, its users and their craft safe is all in a day’s work for the officers of the Essex Police Marine Unit
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ased at Burnham-on-Crouch, the Essex Police Marine Unit (EPMU) is a team of one Sergeant and five Constables who police the entire coast of the county, from Mistley on the River Stour in the north to Crayford Ness, beyond the Dartford River Crossing, in the south – that’s over 350 miles of coast, rivers, estuaries and creeks. Now more than 70 years old, the Unit also has additional responsibility for inland waters such as non-tidal rivers, reservoirs and canals including the River Lee Navigation on the border with Hertfordshire, which brings its total policing area up to 562 miles. “We have two boats, a 42ft Launch named
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TheCoastalGuide 2022
Alert IV and a 24ft RHIB [rigid-hulled inflatable boat] named Sentinel, which are moored at Burnham Yacht Harbour,” says Sgt Alex Southgate. “The RHIB has a top speed of 56 knots and so can reach most areas along the coast fairly quickly. As well as this we have two small Avon boats fitted with outboards that we can deploy in inland waters – these are mainly used for searching.” While it takes a great interest in Essex’s major ports at Harwich, Tilbury and London Gateway on the Thames, as well as smaller sites like Brightlingsea, EPMU’s focus is marine community policing. Keeping people safe in and by the water
