Battle bus is coming to town

Battle bus

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Greater Manchester Police's brightly coloured 'battle bus' is touring Rochdale today (Thursday 6 August).

The custom-fitted and branded vehicle was at Tesco Rochdale earlier this morning and will be at Middleton Arndale at 12:30 to 14:30 and Morrisons, Dawson Street, Heywood from 15:00 until 17:00.

Officers from the Neighbourhood Policing Teams will be working from the bus to encourage residents to follow simple crime reduction advice such as locking doors and windows and using burglar alarms.

Superintendent Martin Greenhalgh, who was with the bus at Tesco this morning, said: “We are raising awareness through the bus and giving out simple crime prevention advice, like locking windows and doors.” 

He said that the police's long-term goal was to reduce burglary 'month by month'. 

Visitors to the bus will be offered free burglary information packs containing discount vouchers for security equipment at high street DIY stores.

Inspector Dale Sexton, operational policing unit manager for Rochdale Division, said: “The information provided in the burglary packs gives clear, easy advice on how to make it more difficult for burglars to break in. One obvious action people can take is to secure their property as over 30% of burglaries are a result of people not locking doors and windows.

During a week of action last month (20 – 24 July), around 30 officers carried out raids on 33 properties across the Borough which led to the arrest of 31 people. A further 35 people were stopped and searched and held to account by members of the team.

Inspector Sexton added: “The Battle Bus will let all our communities know that we mean business and that they can help by providing us with the information we need to identify and arrest burglars.”