THE basic mission for which the police exists, according to the founder of the force Sir Robert Peel, is, quite simply, to prevent crime and disorder. It has been the raison d’etre of law enforcement for decades. For more than a century, even.

And it was with this founding principle in mind that I ventured onto the streets of Swindon on Monday evening to see first-hand the work done by our boys and girls in blue and meet the team at Gablecross.

I was welcomed by PC Nick Payne, who was heading a small unit of PCSOs and regular officers in an operation that targeted troublesome youths in Pinehurst.

Nick briefed the team on various aspects of the operation and plotted his strategy like Napoleon commanding the Grande Armée.

For some time now, the police have been receiving a high volume of reports of anti-social behaviour in the Pinehurst area, and the aim of the operation was to tackle it head-on.

Officers and PCSOs were given their orders and, after the briefing, the brave band of around eight or 10 went their separate ways.

I was placed in the care of two of the force’s finest — PC Stefan Watts and PCSO Steve Cook.

We took a marked car – my first journey in the back of a police car, I might add – and headed for The Circle.

I spent the short drive to Pinehurst chatting to the officers about how they ended up enforcing the law for a living.

Steve, who previously worked in IT for more than 20 years, said: “Joining the police was always something I wanted to do. I was going to join as a regular but they had too many applications at the time, so they offered me a PCSO role instead.”

He has been pounding the beat as a PCSO for the past few years, and he loves it.

“I am perfectly happy doing this. It’s something I want to be doing until I retire.”

Pinehurst is Steve’s regular patch. He knows all the movers and shakers, and residents seem to warm to him. Some of the kids have even taken to naming him Baldy, a nickname he fully embraces. I suspect the jibe is as much a term of affection than one of abuse, though the kids would never admit it.

Stefan – or ‘Stef’ for short – joined the force after becoming bored with accountancy, and hasn’t looked back.

As a regular officer he is very grateful for the support of PCSOs such as Steve.

He said: “The PCSOs are brilliant. It would be much harder to do the job without them. When we go out on jobs like these we know the names of the people we need to target, but we don’t actually know who they are as individuals.

“Steve deals with them on a day-to-day basis and is able to help us with his detailed knowledge of the area.”

As we approached The Circle, where Stef and Steve expected to see small groups of youths congregating on bikes, I was warned about what could happen when the car is spotted.

One of the problems officers encounter when undertaking operations of this nature is, to use the correct parlance, the tendency for the targets to ‘starburst’ – in other words, to run off in all directions.

I was given a real time demonstration of the starburst effect when the car pulled up at the side of the road where a group of around a dozen youths on bikes had gathered.

Needless to say, I blinked, and missed them. Our search continued.

“It’s mainly luck of the draw if we actually see the people we’re searching for,” admitted Steve.

“They are usually out causing trouble, but the one night we actually want them to be out they might not be.”

The drive around the backstreets and ginnels of Pinehurst produced little at first.

Two officers had donned plain clothes and taken to bicycles, which, when confronted with playing fields and tight back alleys, gave them a distinct advantage over a car.

The patrol continued and, eventually, after much persistence, officers managed to arrest one of the ring leaders they had originally targeted and confiscate a motorbike which was presumed to have been stolen, though it wasn’t confirmed at the time.

Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and it gave me a good insight into how operations of this nature are executed.

It was a novelty for me, but for guys like Steve and Stef it’s routine. And it’s a routine for which we ought to be very grateful.