A total of four police vehicles arrived in Westfield this morning (April 1) with officers keen to stress it was a sign of them doing their "day to day work."

The officers were called in to help with an on-going incident, which started when a PCSO stopped a suspect on the street close to the Westfield Industrial park.

Because officers now have new guidance on how to take suspects back to police stations,with them no longer able to be transported in the back of an ordinary police car, they called in a special isolation van.

Officers from the force, who did not wish to give details of the incident, stressed that it was part of an ongoing enquiry and that it was not related to their new powers under the coronavirus lockdown.

The police presence is part of a force-wide initiative to reassure the public that officers are out on patrol, with visibility a key part of their work. Officers from across Avon & Somerset are keen to be seen out and about, with regular patrols from their station office in Radstock.

The new enforcement laws came into effect as part of the government lockdown of communities to help halt the spread of coronavirus.

You can read about the new policing powers and system of financial penalties now in place here.