GMP is conducting a week of intensified Neighbourhood Policing as part of a renewed focus on tackling the crimes that matter most to our communities.
Coinciding with the national Neighbourhood Policing (NP) Week of Action, January 17 – Sunday 23 January 2022 will see a range of operations in support of GMP’s hard-working Neighbourhood Officers and PCSOs.
Each day we’ll hear a different voice from across the force speak about how they’ve worked within their neighbourhood to make a positive impact.
Sergeant Anis Hakim works out of West Didsbury Police Station, monitoring issues in the community and arranging resources to combat crime and community issues.
He regularly arranges multi-agency meetings that can help solve the root cause of repeat issues including ASB.
He highlighted a recent problem with youth ASB in Withington. After taking police action to intervene, he drew in year’s intervention and social care experts to identifying the healthcare and home-life issues that were at the root of the offender’s behaviour.
He explained: “If you dig down into the crime you can find the route cause. That’s what it’s all about, because what we want to do is fix the problem for good and stop getting called out for the same thing over and over again.
“If we find the route cause we can problem-solve it and not only reduce demand on ourselves and resolve a problem for the community, but we can also make that person’s life a little better too.”
Sergeant Hakim is among the 1,099 Sergeants who affirmed their commitment to GMP during a programme of pledge ceremonies alongside Chief Constable Stephen Watson.
Officers have vowed to deliver a series of leadership objectives, supporting the wider commitments of the Plan on a Page – GMP’s back-to-basics policing plan.
Promising to maintain respect for their rank as a moral, ethical and principled leader, Sergeants reaffirmed themselves to a range of commitments that will continue to underpin GMP’s Neighbourhood policing.
Among officers working Sergeant Hakim’s area of Manchester is PCSO Karen MacDonald, who gave an overview of her work.
She said: “There is a variety of tasks I complete on a daily basis. I will check to see if there have been any incidents that I can follow up, especially where they may be CCTV to be viewed, including bike thefts in university area.
“The university security team also send my details of any incidents that they have been made aware of. I marry these up with any crimes that have been reported to us.
“We will also deal with any jobs that we are sent police communications. Recently I was sent to a Burglary at a shop where the CCTV was very good. We were able to identify the offender quickly and he was sent back to prison.
“I have now been joined by PCSO Sean Turtill and we will be starting to arrange the Police Surgeries again. There are a number of venue’ that I attend for at least two hours, where I engage with students, give them advice on crime prevention, staying safe at night, security in their homes, drink spiking and how to report incidents of sexual abuse or harassment.
“We patrol the campuses and surrounding student areas which helps us to gather intelligence on any suspicious activity.”
Another of Sergeant Hakim’s Neighbourhood officers produced a great example of local policing recently.
After a series of criminal damage incidents at a bus depot, PC James Lindley increased patrols in the area.
Within a few days he and his colleagues had detained five young people responsible for the repeat ASB.
Working with local schools and housing providers, home visits were conducted and referrals made for early intervention to divert those responsible from further behaviour.
Since The intervention, there have been no further incidents affecting the depot.
Follow updates on GMP’s Neighbourhood Policing week and the national focus on local policing with the hashtags #NeighbourhoodPolicingWeek and #WeekOfAction on social media.
Find your local Neighbourhood Officer by entering your postcode at www.gmp.police.uk/a/your-area
