Inside The Force: 24/7 – Graveyard fight as England face Germany in Euros

The next episode of Channel 5’s Inside The Force: 24/7, based inside Lincolnshire’s busiest police station, will focus on the pressure cops faced with a spike in incidents as England played Germany in the European Championships last summer.

Episode two of the series, produced by Mentorn Media, will air at 9pm on Monday, April 11.

To cover all of the Euros matches, Lincolnshire Police had to cancel leave and draft in extra officers at a cost of £40,000. On the night of the match (June 29, 2021), Group A was on a 10-hour shift at the police station on South Park in Lincoln.

Sergeant Nicky Duke was heading up one of the extra units put on to police the tournament and, with pubs bursting at the seams, they had numerous urgent calls to respond to.

Just 20 minutes into the match, Sergeant Duke responded to the first urgent call of her shift – eight males fighting in a graveyard.

When one of the men became aggressive, it took four officers to arrest him for being drunk and disorderly. Back at custody, he becomes increasingly agitated and stripped naked at the desk.

Custody staff struggled to restrain him so an urgent call was put out, with PC Mark Solder rushing down from the first floor to assist. The suspect resisted and PAVA spray was used, but in a tussle a number of officers were accidentally sprayed, and a female officer was treated outside by paramedics.

Just after the match finished, Sergeant Duke responded two an incident where two men are accused of racially abusing and threatening someone who lives nearby.

As she attempts to arrest one of the men, he refuses to be handcuffed, and for the first time in 12-and-a-half years she had to resort to using PAVA spray.

Sergeant Duke is also called to an incident where an angry, drunk young man becomes increasingly abusive and is finally tackled to the ground and taken back to custody.

This follows episode one, which focused on the investigation into the death of Darren Munnelly.

Declan Grant was jailed for six-and-half-years after admitting manslaughter and the episode gave a chilling insight into Grant’s time in custody.

The eight-part series goes behind the doors at Lincolnshire Police and shows what life is really like for the officers and staff at the police station on South Park in Lincoln.

Filming took place as the lockdown restrictions eased in Summer 2021 and crime rates surged so Lincolnshire Police, the ‘country’s least funded force’, was stretched like never before.