We're the Marine Unit, we're based at
Burnham on Crouch.
We have five police constables and one sergeant 
with two special constables
assisting us in our role.
Essex is a coastal county and we have
365 miles of coastline, 
of which our unit covers the entire area,
so we effectively protect the whole
coastline up to 12 miles offshore.
Back in 1949 we only had one vessel, Vigilant, 
which was purchased second hand.
We now have two main vessels, 
the Alert IV, our main vessel here,
and a RIB called Sentinel.
So far this year, we've managed to patrol the coastline for 912 hours of high-visibility policing.
That's on our vessels, on the water,
anywhere around the coastline.
Alert IV, our large launch is, effectively, 
a large mobile police station.
We have a wealth of technology in here,
from a marine plotter
to a radar and VHF radios, 
in order for us to communicate with
all various areas of the marine community
and the policing team at large.
Technology and welfare issues on the Marine Unit have advanced significantly since we first started.
We have advanced life jackets 
which go off automatically
and we have a vessel arrest system 
which is designed to stop
vessels in the water by entangling their propellers.
We also have a FLIR thermal camera system so we can
pick people up at night.
During a recent operation in Southend,
targeting shellfish-pickers and organised crime groups
we used our fingerprint device to
confirm identity for foreign nationals
who were refusing details, 
in order to support the community policing teams.
We search inland rivers and lakes for
crime scenes and for missing persons.
We've got inland dinghies and mud sleds.
We also have stretchers for picking up casualties.
Part of our specialist equipment
is a sonar imaging device.
This literally goes underneath the boat
and produces similar to a sound wave
but a sonar wave under the water,
which gives us a an image of the bottom of the sea bed.
This gives us the ability to target 
either divers or searchers into a specific area.
The unit's changed dramatically since 1949.
We're now a community policing team
 and you're going to see us a great deal more.
High-visibility patrol on the water and
ashore, looking after the marine community.
