Police incident at Chasewater yesterday evening

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Chasewater isn’t usually the kind of place you’d expect to be the scene of such intense police activity. Archive image from my 365days journal.

Update 5:25pm, Wednesday 1 August
Latest statement from Staffordshire Police:

Armed police deployed to Chasewater Country ParkStaffordshire Police received a call just after 8pm yesterday (31 July) reporting that a man had been assaulted with a weapon at Chasewater Country Park on Pool Road, Brownhills.

Armed officers attended, along with the force’s Dog Support Unit and colleagues from the Ambulance Service. The National Police Air Service also provided assistance.Three men received medical attention at the scene for minor injuries, and an extensive search of the area was carried out.

No armed men or weapons were found and the armed officers were stood down.Chief Inspector Mark Smith, Lichfield District Local Policing Team Commander, said: “Fortunately no one was seriously injured, but we are carrying out a thorough investigation to trace those involved.“It is believed to be an isolated incident, and officers will be on duty in the area this evening to reassure local residents. We would like to encourage the community to continue to use the park as normal.“Any witnesses are asked to contact us on 101, quoting incident number 776 of 31 July. Any information, however small and insignificant it may seem, could help with our investigation.”

Update 10:40am, Wednesday 1 August
Staffordshire Police have posted the following at 10:18am:

There will be an increased police presence today and this evening in Chasewater but we would like to encourage the community to continue to use the park as normal.

Original post:

There’s been a lot of understandable concern on social media in the last 12 hours or so due to a large police presence at Chasewater yesterday evening (Tuesday 31st July 2018), including the dog unit, force helicopter and an armed response team – apparently in response to some kind of incident involving weapons.

At the moment, official information is quite scant, but Lichfield police issued the following two statements in succession – when more information emerges, I’ll update this post as necessary:

At 9:31pm, they said:

Please be aware that we are currently dealing with an incident in and around Chasewater Country Park. There will be a large number of officers and vehicles in the area conducting enquiries.

At 9:36pm they went on to say:

In relation to the incident at Chasewater County Park. There has been a deployment to the location in relation to some minor disorder involving weapons. Enquiries are on going at the moment and nobody has been seriously injured or harmed.

Following on from this, at 9:41pm, Staffordshire Police Dogs and Armed Response tweeted:

Shift 2 ARV are currently involved in a firearms deployment at Chasewater. You may see armed officers in the area following a report of an assault with a machete. An area search has been completed and no offenders or weapons have been found so far.

Staffordshire Police ARV unit, Apparently at Chasewater Dam. Image posted on Twitter by @StaffsDogs.
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