A QUIET Halloween for the district saw hundreds of youths take to the streets but only a handful of arrests made.

Essex Police said there were six Halloween-related arrests on Saturday- two for public order incidents, three for assault, and one for possession of an offensive weapon.

The stats made pleasant reading for officers who three years ago faced a string of incidents as yobs ran riot with a 300 per cent increase in arrests across the county.

This year passed off with little incident with police officers helped by a large range of diversionary activities including dance, art and football events.

Epping Forest District Commander Chief Inspector Alan Ray said: “There were a lot of people on the streets in the district. Over 400 youths came into the area by tube but they were effectively policed and there were no major incidents.

“Anti-social behaviour officers from the council went about, and things passed off in good order. There was good support for the evening and good cooperation with parents. It was busy but things were conducted in a good manner.”