Families are being warned after “several” reports of missing children at beaches with people heading to the coast for the warm weather. Police have issued a statement for people to make sure that kids are not left unsupervised at beaches and that that they can be “very dangerous places”.
Over the past couple of weeks people have headed to the seaside due to the blue skies and glorious sunshine which has also coincided with the Easter holidays. A number of children were reported missing on beaches in Lancashire with families flocking to the area to enjoy the recent weather. They have been travelling to the beach on the Fylde coast, including Blackpool.
However, in the last two days alone, officers have been tasked with ‘several reports of missing children’, Lancashire Police said.
The force said a ‘significant amount’ of police and coastguard resources were called out to assist search for the children in ‘avoidable’ incidents – meaning responding officers were unable to deal with other crime.
A post shared by Fylde Police referred especially to the dangers of leaving children on their own with the possibility that they could get into difficulty when in the water. It said that a ‘significant amount of police and coastguard resources’ have been used in these cases.
It stated: “Now the warm weather is here we have noticed an increase in visitors and families enjoying the beach. Whilst this is lovely to see, we want families to do this safely.
“The beach is a very dangerous place for unsupervised children, and it is disappointing to see that youngsters are still regularly permitted to approach the water unsupervised.
“This could prove fatal, even to those who are competent swimmers. You are also risking the lives of the coastguards who would be deployed in a rescue situation.
“In 2 days, there have been several reports of missing children, which have used a significant amount of police and coastguard resources.
“These incidents are completely avoidable and have a detrimental impact to the service we offer, as when police officers are looking for lost children, we are unable to deal with or prevent crime.”
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