Southend residents may have seen a large police presence in Southend city centre today.
The city's community policing team were out in locations across the city centre this afternoon alongside council safety officers and security from Southend College.
Officers with specialist training were carrying out a Project Servator deployment.
These operations aim to deter, detect and disrupt a range of criminal activity, including terrorism, while providing a reassuring presence for the public.
Southend officers have received additional training to identify changes in body language, which may indicate individuals are involved in criminality.
An Essex Police spokesman said: "Our patrols are deliberately unpredictable and could pop up at any time.
"We use a variety of assets, and today we used our open gate weapons detection system.
"This equipment allows people to pass through with metal personal effects, but will detect larger metal objects, such as knives."
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