Police crack down on Tameside community priorities

A week of police action which focused on the priorities of neighbourhoods in Tameside has been deemed a success. 

A new model has been launched by Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Stephen Watson, which takes a back-to-basics approach to traditional policing.

Officers were deployed throughout the week to concentrate on issues raised by communities, targeting acquisitive crime, traffic offences and the supply of drugs. 

Sergeant Chris Antoniou, who now covers neighbourhood policing in Droylsden and Audenshaw, has explained the work that was carried out across the borough. 

Chris told Tameside Radio: "The chief constable wants us to get on the front foot when it comes to neighbourhood policing so, to celebrate the launch of the new Neighbourhood Policing Model and the re-alignment of teams, we did a positive week of action where we were targeting the things the community had highlighted to us to as being the biggest issues. 

"There were 18 arrests - five for drug supply - and someone was issued with a Criminal Behaviour Order, where people are banned from a certain area due to behaviour. 

"There were three warrants which were executed successfully. There was a large recovery of Class A and Class B drugs - that's like cocaine and cannabis and other paraphernalia. There was a recovery of a kilo of heroin, which is a great result." 

Sergeant Chris Antoniou has worked for Greater Manchester Police for around 14 years  

Chris continued: "Forty traffic offence reports were issued - this was mainly things like no insurance, no seatbelts and people on their mobile phone. Seven vehicles were seized under the Road Traffic Act due to no insurance and 18 stop searches were conducted. 

"There were eight surgeries, where we find out what different communities want from us. We hold these every week where people can come and say to us what their priorities are and we can look to resolve them.

"There were four weapon sweeps where we go to areas where historically there might have been knife crime and conduct searches in those areas.

"There was two bike marking events where we mark young people's bikes in case they are ever stolen so we can recover them back to the rightful owners. 

"There were also 20 engagements with local schools and also a joint visit with an RSPCA officer to an address where two dogs were seized and have now been rehomed, so quite a successful week really across Tameside." 

Chief Constable Watson launched GMP's new neighbourhood policing model last week alongside the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime Kate Green, and Chief Superintendent Colette Rose at UA92 in Trafford.

GMP Chief Constable Stephen Watson speaking at the launch of the new neighbourhood policing model

An additional 264 warranted police officers are to be posted to neighbourhood teams across Greater Manchester, which the force says means there will be "a much greater focus on officers and partner agencies working together to fight crime and solve local problems". 

As part of the model, a new alert system has been launched which allows residents to sign up to for information regarding issues in their local area, on-going incidents as well as accessing a range of crime prevention advice too, 24 hours a day.

BeeInTheLoop is a direct line to your neighbourhood policing team, designed to keep residents in the loop about what's happening on their street and in their local community.

People can sign up now to receive free text or email alerts at www.beeintheloop.co.uk 

LISTEN: You can hear our full chat with Sergeant Antoniou below