Five new neighbourhood policing teams

On Monday 23 April, Greater Manchester Police’s Rochdale Division will officially launch its five new neighbourhood policing teams, which will put officers back into the heart of local communities.

The teams, which cover Rochdale North, Rochdale South, Heywood, Middleton and Pennines, have been set up to respond to the needs of local communities, with each one headed by a neighbourhood inspector and consisting of police officers and police community support officers (PCSOs).

Each police officer, assisted by a number of PCSOs, will have responsibility for a specific ward-based neighbourhood, and will work to build close links with communities to help address crime and disorder issues.

PCSOs will assist by gathering intelligence about anyone committing crime, and feed this information back to colleagues within the police and local council to help prevent and deter criminal activity.  

Furthermore, they will work closely with Rochdale Safer Community Partnership’s anti-social behaviour unit, the youth offending team, housing providers and trading standards, as well as other partner organisations such as the fire service.

Divisional Commander for Rochdale, Chief Superintendent Peter Mason, said: “Neighbourhood policing is all about making communities safer and improving people’s quality of life by ensuring that we are visible on the streets, and working more closely with local people to tackle those crimes that are having a real impact on their lives.

“Neighbourhood policing teams will also make us more accessible by providing a local point of contact for the community.  The public can now email, telephone or speak directly to officers responsible for their area to raise concerns, and police can give feedback on action that has been taken with partners to tackle local problems.

“PCSOs are an integral part of neighbourhood policing, as they provide an invaluable link to communities.  They have been well received by the public so far, and are having a significant impact on low-level crime and disorder.  This means regular officers have more time to devote to other issues such as burglary, robbery and vehicle crime.

“As well as PCSOs, we will have special constables and community wardens working within and alongside the neighbourhood policing teams, and will be looking to extend the policing family even further by recruiting volunteers from the community to work with us in a supporting role.”

Councillor Ted Flynn, Rochdale Council’s cabinet member for community, safety and leisure, added: "Neighbourhood policing addresses the concerns of people at a local level, and allows them to have a real influence over how those concerns are addressed.  Having more officers on the street, deployed where they are most needed, is the best way to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour in Rochdale.”