“It’s not even a full moon,” says PC Rachel Silver as we take our first comfort break in five hours.

It’s been another busy shift for the response team based at Centenary House in Worthing, and comes quick on the heels of the previous night’s busyness that saw many officers clocking off hours after they should have done.

Response teams are made up of uniformed frontline officers who act as the first responders to emergency 999 calls, urgent incidents and high-risk situations.

Read more

Warning issued over fake beach hutsMan choked woman and refused to let her leave houseSearch for man after woman dies in alleyway in ‘unexplained’ circumstancesWoman jailed after shoplifting barrage which included £18 theft from PoundlandFamily pays tribute to ‘loving’ man who died in hostel knife fight

I’ve been placed with PC Silver, who has been a PC for four years and a PCSO before that for five, and PC Lauren Rippon, who has been a PC for three years, for the 3pm until 11pm shift.

During the quiet first two hours of the evening, the PCs tell me they have to make the most of it and try to get through their case work. PC Silver is watching CCTV footage of an incident that saw a woman cut her hand after she smashed a shop window. Meanwhile PC Rippon is putting together CCTV footage and images from a shoplifting incident to send to court.

They tell me that while non-crime domestic incidents and domestics are their “bread and butter”, these days 80 per cent of what they’re called to involves an element of mental health. Another common callout is to children involved in antisocial behaviour.

That conversation would hold true for the rest of the night.

Our first callout is to a non-crime domestic in Worthing, the officers speak to the parties involved and then we’re off on our way again, blues and all, to a broken-down car in Brighton Road, Lancing.

It feels like my organs are left behind us as we weave through traffic at speed.

I make myself useful on this job, helping PC Silver push the car to the safety of a bus stop while PC Rippon halts traffic.

Police at the scene of a broken down car in Lancing (Image: The Argus)

It’s another quick job and we’re on our way again. We get a call that an 89-year-old man with dementia has gone missing, we’re about to join the search when we’re told he’s come home. Another call comes in – there are two teenagers on the roof of Worthing’s Costa. But the incident is downgraded and we don’t attend.

There’s then reports of fighting at the Sainsbury’s in Horsham. The blue lights are back on and we’re speeding up the A24.

Teenagers, who are well known to the shop, have stolen a security camera off the store’s security guard. Speaking to the incredibly frustrated worker, incidents involving youths at the store are common.

Police at Sainsbury’s Horsham (Image: The Argus)

“They’re here every day,” he says.

He’s at the end of his tether.

PC Silver recommends that they put in place a banning order. This would mean if the teenagers enter the shop again it would be treated as burglary, a higher offence.

“This has a really big effect on the people who work here,” says PC Silver.

“Can you imagine going to work and having to deal with that every day?”

We hear the teens have run into town and when we drive there later, they shout at us from high up in a car park. The officers decide they won’t take part in a game of cat and mouse.

It’s now about 7pm and we’re hoping to nip back to Worthing for some refreshment but a call comes in for a domestic emergency.

A woman has been drinking and her parents have called for help as she’s become aggressive.

We are the first crew on the scene but later another two police officers would assist, as well as the unit’s on duty police sergeant and four paramedics.

We’re at the house for three hours as the woman is checked over, spoken to and asked if she wants to go to hospital. In the end, she does not go.

When we’re finally back in the car the radio is exploding with jobs including a high-risk missing person and reports of a drunk man trying to steal from a Subway. PC Silver reassures me the night team will be starting their shift soon and will be taking over.

On our way back to Worthing we check in on the unit’s sergeant who is dealing with a break-in in progress. She has back up so we nip into Horsham police station to finally have a comfort break and a bit of chocolate. PC Silver and PC Rippon haven’t had the chance today to eat their packed lunches.

We continue back to Centenary House, managing to get back in time for the end of the shift.

I left feeling even more respect for the officers after spending time with them.

They are called upon to deal with a huge range of incidents from the dangerous, to the sensitive and to those that could escalate without their help.

I saw first hand how they’re increasingly having to step in when people in need are between services, especially in terms of mental health.