RESULTS of police work done by neighbourhood officers in Tameside has been hailed.
Across the borough, those responsible for the area at the Greater Manchester force have been responsible for significant breakthroughs.
A cannabis farm worth more than £2 million was discovered at an address on Ash Road in Droylsden following extensive intelligence gathering, which included thermal imaging footage from a drone.
Seven people were arrested and the Tameside neighbourhood crime team managed to charge Modou Jammeh with 33 counts of attempted burglary after being arrested by PC Gilbert following the report of suspicious circumstances, where officers detained him after a foot pursuit.
In Denton, the dedicated neighbourhood team was tackling issues that had been reported in Victoria Park, including criminal damage, public order offences and general anti-social issues.
Fighting crime is not all the team have been doing this festive period, though.
For Christmas magic faced a slight bump in the road when Santa’s sleigh broke down on the way to Tameside General Hospital!
However, the neighbourhood policing team was on hand to help to make sure some of the bravest children in our community received their gifts.
The presents Santa had in his sack were bought from tuck shop money used by the officers at Ashton Police Station.
Selection boxes – some of which donated by the B&M and Iceland stores in Ashton town centre – sweets and other confectionary were handed out.
Thankfully Santa did make it to the hospital and made sure every child received a gift and a visit from the man himself.
Greater Manchester Police’s work also saw the Safe4Summer campaign, which ran from the end of June until the end of September and saw the team increase its visibility, conduct stop and searches and gather intelligence to prevent further incidents.
In November, Tameside neighbourhood officers attended schools across the district, including Ashton-under-Lyne’s St James’ CE Primary, where they spoke to pupils as part of their topic ‘People Who Can Help Us’.
The Tameside North neighbourhood team teamed up with the Message Trust charity to deliver the No More County Lines Tour across schools.
In October, neighbourhood officers linked up with the charity Foundation 92, which supports communities across Greater Manchester, to provide mobile youth provisions to crack down on anti-social behaviour and engage with young people.
The mobile hub was parked in known hotspots and had multiple resources on board like games consoles as well as preventative messaging.
Back in September, Operation AVRO returned to Tameside, resulting in 42 arrests taking place across the district for crimes including driving and drug related offences.
A traffic operation to ensure vehicles were roadworthy and drivers were insured and not speeding took place in Ashton, resulting in 53 Traffic Offence Reports being issued.
Local schools Holy Trinity and St Peter’s cleaned up the local area on a litter pick, while a clean-up facilitated by Tameside Council removed the nearby overgrowth to help deter criminals concealing items in the area, with two knives recovered in the process.
Chief Superintendent Chris Foster said that the day was a huge success, adding: “By acting on intelligence received from our communities and partnership working, our officers can tackle the issues we’re told matter most to the people of Tameside, which include speeding, drug dealing, and anti-social behaviour.”