THE EFFECTS of a multi-agency operation that swept across Tameside on a day of action will be felt for some time.
Drugs were seized, wanted criminals were arrested and cash found as dozens of raids were carried out as part of Operation Avro.
But it had an impact in other ways as defective taxis were removed from the streets, illegal tobacco taken from shops and motorists punished for breaking the speed limit.
The Correspondent accompanied police officers and representative from Tameside Council departments as Operation Avro went into full swing, seeing 30 people arrested and thousands of pounds worth of good seized.
A number of warrants were carried out in Hyde, Droylsden, Dukinfield and Ashton by police officers.
Multi-agency teams also carried out vehicle safety checks, taxi and private hire vehicle safety checks, scrap metal and waste carrier compliance checks and visited licensed premises across the borough. Partners from HMRC carried out the checks on taxis and six were found to have failed due to defects – being ordered to fix them before being allowed to carry passengers.
At nine of the 10 off-licence and convenience stories visited by Tameside Council’s licensing team, suspected illegal tobacco was found and seized.
On Mottram Road in Stalybridge, a traffic operation led to 82 speeding offences being recorded, along with 26 traffic offences reported, five vehicle seizures and two arrests.
And Chief Supt Rob Cousen, head of Tameside’s police, warned more action is to come, telling The Correspondent: “Operation Avro was GMP’s response to fighting crime. Looking after people, bringing people to justice and looking after our communities.
“It was multi-faceted. We targeted those who are speeding for example, those who are parking illegally and making it dangerous around schools.
“Obviously, we arrested individuals who’ve committed offences along with trying to build up some trust from communities.
“This action is more than a one-off.”
Councillors were later told of the success Chief Supt Cousen is seeing as Tameside’s Place and External Relations Scrutiny Panel was given an impressive array of statistics.
They include Tameside having the highest arrest ratio for burglary at 10.2 per cent and the fourth lowest number of burglary offences.
The area shows the biggest decrease in vehicle crime across Greater Manchester, 12.7 per cent, and the lowest number of robbery offences.
It also had the lowest number of hate crimes alongside Wigan in December, a year-on-year decrease of some 25 per cent.
But Chief Supt Cousen also had a simple message for criminals in the area – “this is just the start.”