Treacle Partnership reduces crime and anti-social behaviour

The 2009 Halloween and Bonfire Night period saw partners across Greater Manchester work together to reduce crime, anti-social behaviour and deliberate fires.

Criminal damage, anti-social behaviour and call outs to small fires were all down during the two-week period compared to 2008.

This is the third year running that the members of the Treacle Partnership have worked on a variety of initiatives which have successfully reduced the negative impact of Halloween and Bonfire Night on the public of Greater Manchester.

Results revealed that criminal damage was down 22.7 % and the number of call outs to small fires in the open was reduced by an amazing 40.5 %. There was also a 8.9 % reduction in anti-social behaviour and arson was 4.4 % lower than last year.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service also reported a 9% reduction in firework-related incidents.

Assistant County Fire Officer Jim Owen said: “This is excellent news for the people of Greater Manchester. Working with our partner agencies in a variety of initiatives, such as the Fireworks Amnesty, has helped reduce the impact of bonfires and fireworks have on our communities, which is a very positive result – but we have still seen a small, but potentially life changing number of incidents where people have been injured by fireworks and we are determined to use what we have learned this year to improve for next years partnership.”

Chief Superintendent Jon Rush of Greater Manchester Police said: “Halloween and bonfire night is a very busy period for GMP and all our Treacle partners, and our main aim was to ensure that everyone enjoyed it safely. The figures released today prove that Treacle was a success, thanks to the early planning undertaken by all agencies involved and the lessons learned from last year.

“The joint marketing campaign was extremely effective and shows that people have listened to our safety messages. We undertook a number of high-profile operations to curb the predicted rise in anti-social behaviour and criminal damage, which also proved successful.”

Graeme Levy, Trading Standards lead for the Treacle Partnership, said: “ The Treacle Partnership has meant closer working on the ground between partners that makes a real difference to communities. One result of this is the improved ability to tackle the illicit supply of fireworks."