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who enforce the law and engage with members of the public at incidents.
“I will always be incredibly proud to be able to say that I was GMP’s first Response Officer of the Year.”
Assistant Chief Constable Matt Boyle, Head of Local Policing, said: “Prior to his recent move to CTPNW, Lee was the exemplar of Response policing for Greater Manchester.
“He displayed a professional approach to the development of student officers through his role as a Tutor Constable, maintaining high standards which officers in his company took with them when signed off as independent.
was a dedicated Response officer on the Oldham district who did his best every day to support victims of crime and the community.
“He supported his colleagues as a Tutor Constable and consistently coached student officers to a high standard during their time with him.
“PC Sweetman was one of our Taser officers, and he showed bravery and leadership amongst his colleagues with this role.
“He investigated crimes to a high standard and ensured that he supported the most vulnerable in the community.
Police Constable Lee Sweetman says that being crowned GMP’s inaugural Response Officer of the Year is the biggest achievement of his life.
Officers from across our districts were put forward for the award by their Chief Superintendents.
An awards panel subsequently selected PC Sweetman as the standout nominee, and he was presented with a certificate to mark his achievement by the Oldham district’s Chief Superintendent Chris Goodman-Bowen on Monday 26 June.
PC Sweetman said: “It is an honour and a privilege to be GMP’s first Response Officer of the Year.
“There are fantastic Response officers in every district at GMP.
“Response officers across the force do an amazing job on the frontline day in, day out to keep the people of Greater Manchester safe.
“To have won this award ahead of thousands of other officers who would have been worthy winners is by far the biggest and best recognition I have ever been given.”
He was a Response officer on the Oldham district when he was nominated for the inaugural award but has since taken up a new role as a PC at Counter Terrorism Policing North West based at FHQ.
PC Sweetman said: “I was a Response officer for seven years, and was always incredibly proud to be part of GMP’s frontline.
“Response officers are the heartbeat of the organisation, and they are also the face of the force – the officers
“I was also impressed with his positive outcome rate of 15.9 per cent, which exceeds the force average by 50 per cent.
“This outcome rate is supported by examples provided by Lee’s Inspector when he worked on Response, James Grundy, who highlighted exceptional fieldcraft when dealing with an offence of burglary, bravely confronting threats of the use of a firearm.
“PC Sweetman was held in high regard by his Response supervision and peers, delivered a high-quality service to our communities and was a role model for peers across the service.”
Insp Grundy added: “PC Sweetman
“PC Sweetman has a high work ethic and attended the most incidents of any officer on the shift in a 12-month period.
“He was a Response officer who made sure that he always had professional pride in the role.”
As well as gaining the title of GMP’s Response Officer of the Year, PC Sweetman was put forward for a national award.
Each UK force could only nominate one officer for the inaugural National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Response Officer of the Year.
Unfortunately, PC Sweetman did not win that award. It went to Northumbria Police officer Joseph Furniss.
There was certainly tough competition in the Bravery category at this year’s City of Manchester’s District Awards.
Response Police Constables Paul Matthews and Josh Farrell scooped the award for safeguarding two women and a child from harm by running towards a knife-wielding man and disarming and arresting him.
The runner-up was Investigation Support Officer Caroline Bolton, who talked a suicidal girl out of jumping off a bridge before leaning over the railings, putting her arms around the teenager and helping her get back to safety.
CoM Chief Superintendent Rick Jackson said: “The standard of the nominations in the Bravery category were simply outstanding.
“Both the winners and the runner-up deserve every possible plaudit for their truly standout work which saw them put their own safety at risk to help others.
“PCs Paul Matthews and Josh Farrell had no back-up and were unarmed when they attended an address on a Grade 1 response following reports of a stabbing.
“Yet they forced entry to find two women with serious injuries on the first floor – one of whom had been stabbed in the back – and to discover that the suspect was upstairs with a child.
“Without any regard for their own safety, they ran upstairs to the man who was brandishing a large knife and managed to disarm and arrest him, paving the way for paramedics to enter the address and ensure that the two injured women were given the medical treatment they needed.
“The brave actions of PCs Matthews and Farrell potentially saved lives and prevented further injury.
“Caroline Bolton, a staff member who works in the Child Protection Investigation Unit at CoM South, also potentially saved a life, and she was not even on duty when she performed her act of heroism.
“She was on her way home when she saw a 17-year-old girl standing on the wrong side of a bridge.
“The teenager wanted to end her life before Caroline spent 20 minutes talking to her and reassuring her.
“When the girl agreed to come back to the right side of the bridge, Caroline put herself in danger by leaning over the railings to get her to safety.
“Caroline isn’t a trained police officer or negotiator, but she acted with incredible calmness, compassion, professionalism, integrity and courage as a member of GMP staff.
“Caroline and PCs Matthews and Farrell should all be extremely proud of themselves.
“They are an absolute credit to GMP, and it must have been incredibly difficult to pick the winner of the CoM District Bravery Award.”
CoM Chief Superintendent Rick Jackson is pictured presenting the trio with their certificates at the district awards ceremony held at FC United’s stadium near FHQ.
As winners of the Bravery Award, PCs Matthews and Farrell have been put forward as CoM’s representatives for that category at this year’s Chief Constable’s Awards.
Operation AVRO was back in Wigan with a bang on Thursday 22 June.
Eleven months after the highvisibility forcewide initiative first landed in the district, this time it included a focus on targeting cross border criminality utilising specialist resources from bordering forces.
A total of 72 arrests were made across the borough on the day, with 66 being Op AVRO specific – which is 10 more arrests than last year’s operation in Wigan.
The other arrests were part of ‘Operation Coalition’ policing on the borders.
The day saw warrants executed for a range of offences, including domestic abuse, assault and possession with intent to supply illegal drugs.
Fifteen of the warrants were conducted simultaneously.
Several weapons were seized, including a large ‘zombie style’ knife, and £5,000 worth of cash was found with a large quantity of class A drugs.
A traffic operation based in Leigh and Bamfurlong involved GMP’s Roads Policing Unit, Transport Unit and Traffic PCSOs.
A total of 186 traffic offences were recorded, including 99 for speeding. Four arrests were made and six vehicles were seized.
The six Op Coalition arrests involved
a wanted offender, dangerous driving and a fail to stop.
Meanwhile, licensing officers from Trading Standards conducted targeted visits of premises of note, which will be followed up with enforcement action.
Several items were seized, including fake vapes with an estimated street value of £3,500. They were found along with class A drugs, a stolen car and a large machete, with three arrests being made at the scene.
The Wigan District Commander, Chief Superintendent Emily Higham, is extremely proud of what was another highly successful proactive operation acting on the concerns of the community.
She said: “Operation AVRO is always an exciting day for us in policing, and this time there was a joined-up approach to policing our borders.
“Having four forces come together was a great partnership and a brilliant team effort.
“It was a fantastic day in hot weather, and I’d like to thank everyone who was a part of it at Wigan for their hard work, determination and sheer tenacity to ensure that we recorded another set of excellent results.”
The arrests made led to an unprecedented number of detainees
in GMP’s Custody suites - the Custody branch accepted 245 detainees that day and night.
Chief Superintendent Richard Timson said: “I would like to thank our Custody staff for their sheer hard work in managing such a large number of detainees over a 24-hour period. It was a tremendous effort by all.”
GMP’s Custody branch is undergoing a period of intense change and transformation, with a significant investment having been made in staffing and leadership in recent months to meet the demands of an increased number of detainees entering Custody.
These changes will allow seven to eight Custody suites routinely operating across GMP by mid-August.
One of the most visible elements of this investment has taken place over the past two months, with the launch of a significant recruitment drive to uplift Custody staff numbers.
The first Custody Sergeants training course concluded in mid-June, at the same time as the second course commenced.
This recruitment and training drive will provide an extra 32 Custody Sergeants to the branch by the end of the summer.
In addition, there will be eight substantive Custody Inspectors recruited, while a major recruitment process is under way to boost our number of Custody Detention Officers (CDOs) by 28.
Chief Superintendent Richard Timson said: “This uplift
in staffing is fantastic news – it will support improvements in welfare and wellbeing in the branch, and it will also ensure that GMP’s Custody provisions have the capacity to effectively handle the current trajectory of increased detainee demand.
“This investment in new staff is very much welcomed and will have significant benefits across GMP.”
Operation Revoke is already helping to ‘make Bury a much safer place to live and work’.
The newly formed operation is dedicated to tackling organised crime and the associated vulnerabilities in the town.
It is a ‘Clear, Hold, Build’ approach to fighting organised crime in Moorside, combining Bury’s Challenger organised crime team with a new dedicated Revoke enforcement team (pictured).
Clear, Hold, Build seeks to clear the area of an organised crime group (OCG), hold the location so that another gang cannot take its place and, ultimately, help build the community.
Further Clear, Hold, Build initiatives will take part in areas of Bury, which is a high demand town for police and partners, and has seen OCG-based violence over the years.
Areas which are affected by low income, high unemployment, low
education and poor health are often paired with high crime and anti-social behaviour levels. As such, targeting crime within these communities is vital.
In its first six weeks Operation Revoke saw 62 people arrested, class A and B drugs with a street value of £566,000 taken off the streets and approximately £150,000 in cash seized.
In addition, 53 stop searches were conducted – with approximately 25 per cent of them ending in a positive result – 15 vehicles were seized and 17 warrants were executed.
Firearms have also been seized.
On day one of the operation officers arrested two prominent OCG members in possession of £52,000 in cash and a large amount of cannabis.
On Wednesday 7 June the Revoke Enforcement team, supported by GMP’s Tactical Aid Unit and officers from other districts, executed seven
continuous warrants across Bury.
By lunchtime that day nine men had been arrested and brought into police custody on suspicion of conspiracy to supply class A and B drugs.
Detective Chief Inspector John Charlton, of the Bury district, said: “This has been a big operation to get off the ground.
“A lot of dedicated officers have worked tirelessly, supported by staff from force units, and we are delighted with the returns we posted in the first six weeks.
“At the start of June we managed to charge eight of the nine men we arrested, with three counts of conspiring to supply cocaine and heroin, money laundering and supplying a controlled drug (cocaine).
“We have a lot more planned –our work has only just begun! –but we have already begun to make Bury a much safer place to live and work.”
A third Community Innovation Hub event in Stretford brought together members of the African and Caribbean community to review the findings of the earlier Hubs held in Moss Side and Stockport at the end of last year, and to discuss proposals.
The events are delivered as part of GMP’s commitment to the Police Race Action Plan Icebreaker project, which is seeking to provide a national template to improve community engagement with Black communities.
They are hosted by an independent company that specialises in facilitating conversations to ensure that what organisations do aligns with community expectations.
The Hubs agreed that more needs to be done forcewide to address concerns about community policing and possible solutions regarding stop and search from an African and Caribbean perspective. A further event will be held in September to review progress and establish thoughts on further developments, and the concept will be regularly
reviewed by communities in partnership with GMP and partners, with an ambition to widen the audience to develop this important work further.
Since the previous Community Innovation Hub events, some community members have joined strategic groups that contribute to the governance and approaches taken by the force.
The security operation for Parklife at Heaton Park is a mammoth task that takes months of planning and involves numerous partners, including the festival’s organisers, North West Ambulance Service, Transport for Greater Manchester and Manchester City Council.
More than 70,000 people attended each day of Parklife 2023 in June, and this year there were some unique challenges to overcome on what was probably Manchester’s busiest weekend of the year, including:
• Sweltering temperatures on the Saturday turned into thunderstorms on the Sunday, which forced the entire festival to be put on pause until the heavy rain and lightning stopped
• A tunnel was discovered underneath some of the parameter fencing
• Intelligence of an organised crime gang threat led to the introduction of a Section 60 and the standing up of a firearms response
• The tram network failed on the Sunday evening, meaning alternative travel arrangements had to be organised quickly, in time for the crowds heading home.
Despite the challenges, Parklife 2023 still left people smiling, apart from the 60 people who were arrested and the 120 people who were ejected.
The majority of the arrests resulted from the proactive policing operation that led to the seizure of illegal drugs and weapons – it could have had fatal consequences if these had made it inside the festival.
Superintendent Andy Sidebotham, the Gold Commander for Parklife 2023, said: “Over 900 officers and staff were deployed to support the security operation.
“My message to all of them is that you did yourself, your colleagues and GMP proud.
“I know it’s not easy working in an exceptionally hot, noisy environment and helping people who are increasingly worse for wear.
“I want to thank you all for the key roles you played in making Parklife 2023 such a success and for keeping the attendees safe, and to let you know that your professionalism and hard work have been positively commented on by the event organisers, festivalgoers and the wider community.”
The Serious Collision Investigation Unit (SCIU) was set up in 2012 to investigate serious and fatal collisions to the highest possible standard.
The SCIU attends collisions when a life has been lost or a victim has been left with life-threatening injuries.
Working alongside the Forensic Collision Reconstruction Unit, officers work hard to piece together what happened.
Sadly, the SCIU attends a large amount of fatal collisions, with officers dealing with more deaths than any other department in the force.
Last year 67 people lost their lives on the roads of Greater Manchester, and so far this year officers have investigated around 20 fatal collisions.
Losing a loved one in a collision is incredibly difficult to come to terms with. It is often completely unexpected, and nothing can prepare family members for the knock on the door.
A core part of the SCIU’s role is to piece together what happened in those final moments to provide some much-needed answers for the family.
Sergeant Andrew Page has worked at GMP for 14 years and joined the SCIU in 2016, having previously worked on Response.
Reflecting on his role within the SCIU, he said: “One of the most rewarding parts of the role is providing the answers for the families, and although we can’t bring their loved ones back, we can try to help them find closure by providing them with answers they so desperately need.
“We also deal with the most serious fail-to-stop collisions, locking up offenders and those who assist them.
“These investigations can be more complex, dealing with offenders who have disguised their crime and disposed of key evidence.
“Often these offenders show no remorse about the devastation they have caused.”
SCIU officers never know what the day will greet them with. Lives can be lost and changed on the roads at any time of the day or night, and
there is often no rhyme or reason to it.
Sgt Page added: “There was one weekend a few years ago where I had to deliver four death messages in 36 hours.
“That was a particularly difficult weekend and one that has stayed with me to this day.”
Fatal collisions are dealt with in the same way as any other crime. The scene must be preserved and guarded to preserve evidence and allow officers to build a full picture of what happened in the moments leading up to the collision.
Road closures can cause temporary disruption, but it is vitally important that the scene – which is the scene of a potential unlawful killing – is not disturbed.
Working within the SCIU offers officers a varied role, from attending collisions and supporting families to carrying out investigations and undertaking proactive and preventative patrols to try to stop collisions from happening in the first place.
Chief Inspector Ronnie Neilson (pictured), who leads the team, said: “I am immensely proud of the work that the SCIU does. It’s an incredibly difficult job, but a vitally important one that helps families during the most difficult periods of their lives.
“We wish there was not a need for the SCIU, but sadly too many people are losing their lives on our roads –and this must change!
“Everybody has the right to get from A to B safely, and we are continually striving to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured in collisions.
“We recognise that creating safer roads doesn’t fall solely on the police. We all have a responsibility to keep people safe on the roads, and we work extremely closely with our partners on proactive operations, enforcement and education.”
To contact the SCIU, email XDept.SCIU@gmp.police.uk
The unit will soon be advertising for a substantive Detective Inspector. Anyone interested should contact CI Neilson at Ronald.Neilson@gmp. police.uk
colleagues at GMP to tell them.”
Linda took her husband José (pictured with her) to the party.
They travelled to London the day before and even managed to fit in a show that night, watching ‘Back to the Future: The Musical’.
Commenting on the party itself, Linda said: “We had great weather, despite the forecast of thunderstorms.
“We got to see The Prince and Princess of Wales, Princess Anne and The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
and Cheshire Constabularies to form Greater Manchester Police.
For the majority of Linda’s time in policing, she worked within the Command Support Team as a personal assistant.
During this time she served under every Chief Constable of GMP.
Former GMP employee Linda Clarke has attended a Royal Garden Party. She was nominated to attend the party at Buckingham Palace after completing over 50 years’ service with GMP before she retired in May 2022.
Linda was delighted to receive the invitation, explaining: “At first I thought it was a wind up! I was so surprised to be invited. I rung my old
“We were treated to live music and given delicate sandwiches and cakes to eat, along with a refreshing lemon drink.
“It was such a special occasion and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was so honoured to be invited.”
Linda joined Manchester and Salford Police as a typist based at Bootle Street Police Station in 1970. Four years later, the organisation merged with parts of Lancashire
Linda said: “It was a pleasure and a privilege to work for GMP for all those years, and going to the Royal Garden Party was a unique way to commemorate those years and a special way to end my career with GMP.”
Operation Lioness is returning this month as part of GMP’s ongoing commitment to end violence against women and girls (VAWG).
The operation, which was set up in 2021 in response to a nationwide call to crack down on violence against women and girls, relaunches in July and will continue throughout the summer months to ensure that women and girls can enjoy night outs in Greater Manchester without fear.
Op Lioness was rolled out to each district of GMP last year and saw officers and staff working with local partners and charities to make Greater Manchester’s open spaces and night-time economies safe. Anti-spiking initiatives and the Ask for Angela domestic abuse campaign were promoted, alongside the provision of visible reassurance to the public and deterrence to offenders.
Over 250 arrests were made last year, for a variety of offences, including drink spiking, rape and domestic assault.
The returning Op Lioness will see dedicated teams of officers ascending on town centres at the weekends in a crackdown on violence and abuse directed at women and girls.
Focussing on the night-time economy, officers will work closely with partner agencies and have a visible presence
in town centres, licensed premises and public transport, as they tackle issues including sexual harassment, spiking and predatory behaviour.
VAWG was recently highlighted as a national priority as the NPCC published the first ever national Strategic Threat and Risk Assessment (STRA) of crimes posing the most danger to women and girls.
The 230-page summary document has been published to outline the greatest threats to women and girls, putting it alongside counter terrorism and child abuse in terms of its importance to policing.
Detective Superintendent James Faulkner, GMP’s tactical lead for VAWG, said: “Bringing an end to violence against women and girls is an absolute priority for GMP and, as the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s publication of the recent STRA demonstrates, all the other UK police forces.
“Here at GMP we remain committed to ending violence against women and girls.
“As the police, we have a responsibility to target offenders and ensure that they face the consequences of their actions, and operations such as Op Lioness are vitally important in helping us to achieve that.”
Further information on the work being done by GMP to tackle VAWG is on the intranet – simply search for ‘VAWG’.
impact prevention techniques (TIPT) training.
The three days of training held at Bolton Police Station in June was provided by former police officers Mark Chambers and Lee Jackson, of the Police Care UK charity, and Dr Jess Miller, the author of ‘The Policing Mind’ who developed the training course.
GMP and representatives from the Wellbeing Board welcomed the team to learn quick, simple and effective techniques to boost the brain’s hippocampus and make sense of difficult and traumatic situations, to build resilience to future trauma exposure and minimise the risk of developing a disorder from trauma.
The techniques have been developed following extensive research by the University of Cambridge and Police Care UK.
In 2018 a total of 70 new recruits from GMP were at the forefront of the research and participated in a study following the Manchester Arena attack, to test the feasibility of post-incident trauma processing techniques using a Randomised Controlled Trial (RTC) design.
The study showed that the use of trauma techniques greatly improved wellbeing and recall after incidents.
It also showed that trauma techniques established a sense of safety and closure around incidents, and that they were teachable and well-received by the new recruits.
The techniques are safe and effective in increasing a person’s ability to make sense of difficult experiences at work.
Discussing the techniques, Lee Jackson said: “For a person who doesn’t work within the police, they may experience three or four traumatic experiences within their lifetime. This could include a bereavement or the breakdown of a relationship.
“Serving police officers can be exposed to 300 to 400 traumatic events during their career. No-one can experience that amount of trauma without experiencing some sort of side-effects.
officers and police staff who have been part of distressing and traumatic events in their line of work.”
The trauma impact prevention techniques include mapping techniques – mapping a sense of ‘where’ – timelining a sense of ‘when’, the ‘positives and the dull’, the ‘safety cue’ and the ‘what elses’.
In the coming months a cadre of GMP trainers who are approved to deliver the training by Police Care UK will start to roll it out to student officers.
This will enable officers to address challenges faced by the workforce, including exposure to traumatic incidents and situations.
As part of the strategy developed by GMP’s Wellbeing Board, the Blue Light Wellbeing Framework (BLWF) identified the opportunity to improve the programmes provided by GMP to build resilience.
The BLWF is a self-assessment tool that sets the wellbeing standard for the emergency services. The objective is to encourage personal responsibility through the provision of education and resources to empower officers and staff to take an active role in promoting their own health and wellbeing.
For further information about trauma impact prevention techniques, please visit www.policingtrauma.sociology.cam. ac.uk/techniques
Our Wellbeing Team were delighted to be joined by ambassadors from Public Health Collaboration (PHC) during the two-week Wellbeing on Tour.
The charity is dedicated to empowering people to take control of their health and saving the NHS money.
PHC does this through multiple projects.
We are living longer, but sadly almost half of the UK population now regularly take prescription drugs and almost 75 per cent of 45 to 74-year-olds and 59 per cent of 25 to 44-year-olds in England are overweight or obese.
The charity’s aim is to inspire people and educate them about the fact that most chronic diseases can be prevented and reversed by maintaining good metabolic health through sustainable diet and lifestyle changes.
PHC shares a vision of a healthier future for all, and it all starts with the food we eat.
Real food does not come with ingredients – real food is ingredients!
PHC runs a free eight-week real food lifestyle programme for weight loss and metabolic health. This can be accessed through the Ambassadors Programme at phcuk.org.
June saw Will Chatterton chair his last Counter Terrorism Policing North West wellbeing meeting before he retires. He has led CTPNW’s wellbeing committee for many years, achieving Silver Workplace Wellbeing Charter status.
At his last meeting he was presented with a certificate from Andy Rhodes, Director of Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service, to acknowledge his contribution to wellbeing.
It has been a pleasure for our Wellbeing Team to support Will, and the team and our Wellbeing Co-ordinators wish him a long and happy retirement.
Monday 24 July (24/7) is Samaritans Awareness Day, because the charity is there to listen 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
On this date and throughout July Samaritans will be running its Talk To Us campaign to remind people that the charity is there for anyone who needs someone to listen.
Every year in July Samaritans branches in the UK and the Republic of Ireland hold local events to raise awareness that the charity is on hand at any time of the day or night to listen to anyone who is struggling to cope.
Whatever you are going through, you can call Samaritans for free any time, from any phone, on 116 123.
As July sees the wellbeing calendar theme move from bereavement to mental health, we would like to remind you of the support available to you if you are struggling with a loss.
• Peer support: GMP has a network of wellbeing volunteers who use their own personal experiences to offer a non-judgemental, confidential listening ear. You can be put in contact with a peer supporter or resilience coach by emailing wellbeingvolunteercoordinators@ gmp.police.uk
• Health Assured: You can contact our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) provider for free and in confidence 24/7 on 0800 028 0199. As well providing advice and information on a range of issues, Health Assured can arrange for you to speak to someone about a bereavement you are going through.
• Cruse Bereavement Support: Cruse specialises in listening support for people who are grieving. You can call the charity for free on 0808 808 1677.
Flags were flying, streamers were sailing and confetti was cascading as the city turned blue for one of the biggest events in Manchester in recent years.
The blue side of Manchester turned out to celebrate Manchester City FC’s treble winning season in a memorable parade.
On Monday 12 June the crowd cheered on their heroes as open-top buses carried the team and club staff on a blue-lined route around the city. The parade started along Deansgate and went through St Mary’s Gate, Cross Street, King Street, Brown Street and then Chinatown.
Hoards of City supporters joined in the celebrations, and GMP officers and staff were on hand to ensure the safety and security of all.
Superintendent Gareth Pakin, who was the Silver Commander for the homecoming event, said: “We had over 90 officers on duty to ensure that the fans could celebrate safely.
“They were deployed in various roles, such as protestor removal, behavioural detection officers and police liaison team, and had support from the mounted unit, traffic and the drone team.
“British Transport Police was also involved in the planning and the operation, to ensure that everyone could get to and from the parade safely.
“This was a challenging deployment with officers having to adapt to adverse weather conditions, a delay in the start time, the transport infrastructure and a reported 200,000 people attending.
“This tested our skills, but the officers showed great flexibility and fortitude.
“The eyes of the world were on Manchester, and our officers displayed the very highest of professionalism and highlighted the excellent tradition GMP has in managing public order events.
“Overall, it was an excellent celebration and one to remember.”
