Next time we'll patrol Magaluf at night, say British police

Two British police officers posted to the party hotspot of Magaluf to help Spanish authorities deal with rowdy tourists admitted any future project would "probably see them on the streets at night" amid suggestions they were working at the wrong time of day.

Sergeant Brett Williams and Pc Martina Anderson, from West Midlands Police, have spent the week patrolling the infamous Majorcan holiday resort, working alongside colleagues from the Guardia Civil.

But tourists and Britons working on the holiday island dismissed the trial as a waste of time because the officers have been working in the daytime - missing the nightlife, when young revellers are out partying.

When asked if the officers' presence was a PR exercise, British ambassador to Spain Simon Manley said: "This is about practical co-operation, it forms part of the work we do day in, day out, with the police, with the Guardia Civil, with the authorities, to try and ensure that those more than three million Brits who come to these islands each year pass their holidays in safety and security."

The two officers arrived on Monday, working eight hour shifts between 7am and 10pm patrolling the beaches, airport terminals and holiday resorts in full uniform to help British victims of crime.

Sgt Williams said they had helped at a domestic violence incident, but said their purpose was not to look for drunken Britons causing problems at night, but to speak with locals and tourists to find out what problems they face each year.

He said: "We have had a really good reaction. We have had no negative comments, they have all been very positive. Both the people that live here, the people that have come here on holiday and also the Spanish that have been here as well.

"They have all thought that it is an amazing scene to see a British bobby in uniform."