Bobbies ready to beam into a living room near you

Heywood police officers will be delivering the latest news straight to residents’ living rooms as they gear up for their second online meeting this week.

The virtual pact (partners and communities together) meetings are a chance for people to catch up with news about how the police and council crime are tackling crime in their area and Rochdale is only the second division in the whole of Greater Manchester to be using the technology.

The meetings mean that rather than having to attend in person, all people need to do to join the meeting is visit the Heywood policing team’s Facebook page and use a special link where they can follow the chat on screen and submit their own questions.

Heywood neighbourhood Inspector Steve Clarke said: “Virtual pacts have gone really well in Rochdale South, with 72 people logging onto one of their online meetings towards the end of last year. We are still committed to face to face pact meetings, but this scheme means that residents have even more choice about how they communicate with their local police and council.”

The meeting takes place on Thursday (7 February) at 7pm. Residents can take part by visiting the Heywood Facebook page at www.facebook.com/gmpheywood and clicking on the 'PACT meeting' button.