Operation ‘Beat Sweep’ - the inside story

Operation ‘Beat Sweep’ - Rochdale Police teamed up with various agencies in the borough to tackle key issues.

Rochdale Online reporter Laura Wild joined the force last night (Friday 27 February 2010) to gain first-hand experience of what really happens out on patrol with the police.

At 10.45 last night I arrived at the police station, of course in this job it isn’t an unfamiliar place, I have been many times before. On a Friday night, however, if felt different, it actually made me a little nervous.

After a few minutes I was met by PC Danny Unsworth - PC Unsworth is the Priority Ward Officer for Milkstone and Deeplish. This, he informed me was where we would be going.

This part of the 'beat sweep' was to check licensed premises, including restaurants, takeaways and pubs. Our ‘patch’ was the takeaways on Milkstone Road. After 11pm takeaways must have an extended license – so we were going to check if the owners were abiding by the rules.

After introductions, and the signing of a few forms, we were ready to go. That was me, PC Unsworth, Sgt Shoheb Chowdhury, GMP Licensing officer Daisy Edwards, and Rick Eckersley from Rochdale Borough Council Environmental Health and Licensing Service.

The first few takeaways on the street were shut, so they were abiding by the rules.

However, we visited three takeaways that were open and on Ms Edward’s list.

The first was a real eye opener, we entered the takeaway and the shop was full, people were sat on the seats waiting for orders, others were stood at the counter and workers were hovering about. As we entered the kitchen everybody bar two customers left.

The man we spoke to didn’t have a licence, he insisted it wasn’t his shop and he was just working there – but he didn’t have the number for the owner.

I observed as the licensing team did their job, asking questions and taking notes. The pair worked well together.

The man was cautioned and read his rights, and for all you TV drama fans, it did sound just as good as it does on The Bill! He wasn’t arrested but he will be visited again.

At the next takeaway, the police saw somebody flee out of the back door. They must have seen us through the big glass window at the front of the shop – this raised alarm bells. Why was he running away? PC Unsworth went to the back of the building but he had gone.

This takeaway did have the appropriate licence, and the manager co-operated, but as a matter of precaution the names of the staff were noted.

The third and final takeaway opened a can of worms.

PC Unsworth this time went through the side door straight away; that way nobody could ‘do a runner.’

The man in charge, showed the licence, but it was in a different name; Mr Eckersley addressed this and the police moved to the back of the shop.

Mr Eckersley was concerned about the fire exit, it was in a “very unsafe place”, and if a fire broke out in the kitchen, employees would not be able to escape. Upon closer inspection Mr Eckersley found there had been a door at the back which had been blocked off. He advised them to contact the fire service and do something about it.

The next problem was upstairs; it appeared that somebody had been living there. There were clothes and bed covers on the floor. This will be investigated further.

So back out into the rain on a miserable February evening, the officers gathered round and discussed how they felt the operation had gone.

They explained to me that numerous other things can come to light from doing a licensing check that they may not find out otherwise.

We headed back to the station.

Back at the station Sgt Chowdhury explained what he thought about the operation: “It went really well tonight, we want to check that premises are complying with the licensing regulations and, working with our partners, we can achieve this.”

So, I had had my first ride in a police car, I heard somebody being read their rights and I witnessed what a very good job the police do. They were alert at 12 o’clock at night. ‘It’s their job’ I hear you cry – but somebody has to do it and they have to do it well.

All in all, a very good insight into just one of the things our police force does.