Rochdale police column: Ongoing antisocial behaviour in Littleborough

Inspector Robert MacGregor, of the Rochdale East Neighbourhood Policing Team, on what the police are doing to tackle local issues across the borough.

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Since January 2018, I have been the Neighbourhood Inspector for Rochdale East, which includes the Pennine area as well as Castleton, Kingsway and Kirkholt.

One of my responsibilities in this role is to encourage the Neighbourhood Team to engage as much as possible with the community – updating you about what we are doing, and the issues we are trying to deal with.

This is not done as a public relations exercise; it is because the bedrock of neighbourhood policing is that we are accountable to the public that we serve and want to work with you to make your area the safest it can be.

Our engagement is done in person through visits to schools, shops, and community events, and online through the GMP Pennine social media accounts.

We are constantly looking for ways in which to interact with the community and Rochdale Online has kindly offered to allow me to write about some of the issues we are dealing with at the moment, and the challenges we are facing, I am grateful for that opportunity.

Vehicle crime in Littleborough, Milnrow and Newhey peaked during the week commencing 10 December 2018, in which we had 24 vehicle crime offences in those neighbourhoods. This was a sudden increase and well above the average over 2018.

I was quickly aware that the community were angry about these offences and also that there was some criticism of the police not doing enough to deal with the offences as they were occurring.

On social media I saw many comments about police not caring about the offences, or being lazy – at the same time the neighbourhood officers for these areas were working extended hours, and working rest days to try and do what they could to arrest the suspects and stop further offences taking place.

Clearly the officers will get this time back, but they are people with families who gave up time they could have spent at home, to try and protect the community.

Due to this hard work, the dozens of arrests and charges, we have seen a significant reduction in the vehicle crime in the areas above since December, in the last fortnight we have had seven vehicle crimes. Investigations can be protracted and difficult, but the time invested in carrying out a professional investigation is what then gives the greatest chance of a conviction.

A hurried arrest and charge may sound impressive, but if it then falls apart at court it has achieved nothing. We are committed to maintaining this reduction and still have a neighbourhood officer – PC Adams – working with CID and investigating 16 vehicle crime offences in the hope of further charges.

Another issue we are currently dealing with is antisocial behaviour in the Littleborough area.

For the last couple of months there have been regular reports of antisocial behaviour on Station Road and in Hare Hill Park. A couple of weeks ago this included hitting a gentleman with a stick, and people’s glasses being broken. On Saturday 6 April this antisocial behaviour escalated to vodka being stolen from the Co-op by a child three times, and then one child racially abusing a police officer when challenged.

That child was arrested, and the investigation is ongoing. Although the worst behaviour was committed by three youths, this is a group of twenty who are collectively causing problems. I have said previously that parents need to be taking responsibility for where their children are during the evenings. It is not right that other members of the community suffer because of the sub-standard parenting of a few. Where parents have children who they cannot control, there are agencies who can support them. To simply let your children go out and not concern yourself with their behaviour is not on. You may be thinking that your child could not possibly feature in these incidents – I assure you that parents are constantly shocked when I tell them that their child is. Satisfy yourself that your children are not part of this group before they are arrested, and you find out from a police officer.

You will see an increased police presence in Littleborough over the Easter holidays. I will also authorise a dispersal order for the Littleborough area which will allow individuals who are likely to cause harassment, alarm, and distress to be ordered to leave the area. If this direction is ignored, those ignoring it will be arrested. Where we have identified individuals whose families live in social housing, warning letters regarding parent’s tenancies have been sent out and if behaviour continues the warning will escalate to an eviction process. Where properties are privately rented, we will seriously consider contact with landlords to request tenancies are reviewed, in all cases we will use antisocial behaviour legislation to control children whose parents are unwilling or unable to do so. These will include Criminal Behaviour Orders and injunctions.

I realise that the situation for residents is very difficult. I can only promise you that we are working our hardest to deal with the problems and are working with partners in order to do so. The vast majority of people in the area, including young people, are law-abiding individuals who simply want to spend their time enjoying themselves and cause nobody any problems – we are determined to allow these decent people to do so, and to deal with those creating the problems.

I would ask that residents report any issues they encounter, either on 101 or over the live chat feature on the GMP website, and if a crime is in progress or it is an emergency then call 999.

Thank you as always for your support.

Inspector Robert MacGregor
Rochdale East Neighbourhood Policing Team