ADDITIONAL police officers will be on patrol from this weekend as Dorset Police receives £500,000 of additional funding to prepare for an influx of visitors.

Crowds are expected to descend on the coast for the Easter weekend, ahead of what police believe will be the county's 'busiest summer ever', as the weather brightens and lockdown restrictions ease.

The force has received £500,000 of funding from the government which will be spent on additional patrols as officers continue to use the '4Es' approach - engage, explain, encourage and enforcement - when addressing members of the public.

Chief Constable of Dorset Police, James Vaughan, said: "We have had half a million pounds of surge funding from the government so we can put some extra patrols on over Easter and the summer.

"We will use the money to pay for police officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) to work overtime and bolster capacity to keep people safe."

"Now that the stay at home restriction has been lifted we expect certain crimes will start to increase locally and nationally. It is important for our communities to know that we will be carrying out high-visibility patrols this spring and summer and that we continue to be here for them.

"Last year when the first lockdown ended it was really hot weather and in some respects we were caught slightly on the back foot. We saw more people come to the county than we anticipated - we won't fall for that again.

"It is highly likely this summer will be our busiest summer ever. While we welcome the boost it will bring to our economy, we need to ensure that we take proactive measures to manage any rise in demand on our policing service and keep our communities and visitors safe."

Since March 23, 2020, Dorset Police's 118 special constables have worked more than 31,470 hours and 124 police staff volunteers have dedicated more than 2,666 hours.

Over the last year, police officers have given out around 1,400 fines for people breaching Covid rules, the majority of which have been to people visiting Dorset from outside the county. While visitors are now permitted to come to Dorset, Chief Constable Vaughan is urging everyone to be respectful of the county and of each other.

He said: "We understand our communities may be feeling nervous about the coming summer months and we are asking everyone to respect each other and protect our environment while enjoying what Dorset has to offer."