POLICE on horses will become a regular sight in Pitsea for a full month.

The Essex Police horse section has only been doing one-off day-long patrols around the county since it came back into operation in December last year.

However, in a first for the county, the horse patrols will be patrolling Pitsea for the next month.

Over coming weeks the horse patrols will be covering the Pitsea police area, which includes the town centre as well as Vange, Bowers Gifford, Festival Leisure Park and the Burnt Mills, Pipps Hill and Mayflower industrial areas. The officers will carry out stopchecks, as well as beefing up regular patrols.

Pitsea officer, Sgt Gavin Brook, welcomed the move, which he believes will prove to be a massive help in driving down crime.

He said: "The mounted section has been doing regular patrols in towns around the county, but this is the first time an area has made a successful bid to have them on a regular basis.

"This is very good news for us and is another initiative the Pitsea neighbourhood policing team has instigated to keep on top of crime levels in the area.

"As well as providing high visibility patrols, we are hoping that the mounted section will improve relations between police and residents, as the horses do encourage people to speak to officers."

The move is the latest first for Pitsea police.

Last month they ran a revolutionary Big Brother-style operation, codenamed Leopard, which saw specially-trained surveillance officers filming 14 known offenders on the 3/4 estate.

The horse section was out and about last week, patrolling both the Craylands estate and Vange.