Helping youngsters stay safe

Police together with Rochdale Council are launching a new community safety scheme to ensure vulnerable young people are safe at night.

'Stay Safe' sees police and the council working together to identify any young people who at risk and prevent them from coming to any harm.

They will protect them from hazards such as underage drinking, drugs and other potentially harmful situations as well as being able to tackle issues such as anti-social behaviour head on.

A similar scheme which ran in Liverpool reported a 25% reduction in incidents of anti-social behaviour and it is hoped the Stay Safe scheme in Rochdale will have similar results.

Funding from the youth crime action plan has helped in kick starting the Stay Safe scheme, which is the first of its kind in Rochdale. The initiative is supported by the Youth Offending Team and Youth Services who will be involved in targeted police patrols at weekends in the evening.

Young people identified by the group will be taken to a place of safety before parents or guardians are contacted and requested to collect their children and co-operate with the teams.

Inspector Dale Sexton for Greater Manchester Police’s, Rochdale Division, said: “The aim of Stay Safe is to protect the children, who because of their behaviour are putting themselves at risk.

“Police in Rochdale have been working hard to combat problems of anti-social behaviour in your area through a number of operations and activities and we hope that by tackling the issues head on with this kind of initiative we can further reduce this kind of problem.

“We are aware that this affects everyone and we are hoping that this scheme will help make a difference.

"We know that by bringing all partners together early, to work with young people and their parents we can ensure that the problems are reduced and in turn make a real difference for our local communities."

Mike Cross, Youth Offending Team Manager at Rochdale Council said: “This initiative will help us to identity vulnerable children who maybe at risk of taking part in criminal or anti-social behaviour so that we can intervene to prevent them getting into trouble later in life.

“It not only tackles the immediate issues of young people behaving unacceptably, but it allows us to work with and offer support to young people and their parents to resolve the root-causes of their behaviour.”