Disorder levels in Irvine town centre were well down in Irvine over Christmas and New Year, according to police.

And the festive season in the town proved one of the quietest in some time.

That was the message from Sergeant Will Thomson at Irvine Community Council's first meeting of 2024 last week.

Sgt Thomson said: “There were 970 incidents in December while last year it was into the thousands. In all, 273 were reported and 179 detected with ongoing inquiries.

“The action plans in Irvine town centre with visible policing worked incredibly well this year.

“It is no coincidence about the lack of disorder in the town centre. It was well down at Christmas and New Year.

“On Hogmanay there were no disorder calls at all in Irvine town centre, which is quite positive. We will hold on to that.”

He said the force are working hard to engage with young people of all ages and aim to make an impression on them moving forward.

They were now looking to bring back ventures which give youngsters an insight into their work.

Sgt Thomson said:  “Now we need to bring all that back. It was a big thing when I joined 15 to 20 years ago and is such a small thing, we have to bring that back.

“We could have a football match between older kids and the police and I could get a football team together. That would be a breath of fresh air. 

“These are simple things that we stopped a few years ago and we don’t need funding.

 “We need to have more engagements with kids on our back shifts in particular and I am happy to bring people in for that.

“These simple things can be arranged just like that. Before we sat outside Asda with a pop-up and a couple of cars and on one occasion there was a police dog.”